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“Nothing.”He watches me with a steady gaze.“Which is a big revelation in itself.”

Beyond frustrated and not a little impatient, I ask in a measured tone, “How the dragon can nothing be big?”

“I read the mind of every person in the palace, yet no one was near the bridge the morning Elsie took the Earthlings out there.”

I walk to the window and grip the ledge hard as I study the bridge that runs to the other side of the cliff.“It had to have been someone in the palace.The bridge was fine the night before.Mother walked out on it for a stroll with our aunts, and we had no visitors.”Turning to face Kian, I express the ugly thought that’s been lodged inside my head since the incident.“Unless Mother…” I don’t even dare to say the rest.

He crosses his arms, not denying or confirming the possibility.

“Did you read her mind?”I ask.

“You know she blocks me from reading everything, although she can’t expel me as thoroughly as you can.”

“So you think…?”I leave the rest hanging.

“I don’t think it was her.”

“Why not?She’s done it before.”

Kian widens his stance.“She’s too invested in the new alliance she’s forged with Evolet.I doubt she’d jeopardize that.”

“Then what is this big revelation of yours?”

He drops his arms to his sides, comes closer, and says in a lowered voice, “The big revelation is, brother, that whoever it was is strong enough to prevent me from reading those memories in his mind.”

“Or her.”

“Right.”He continues in a voice that doesn’t carry far enough to be overheard by any eavesdroppers on the other side of the wall, “Whoever it was, what matters is that he—or she—isverystrong.”

The way he emphasizes the word gives me pause.“What are you saying?”

“You block me from reading anything in your mind.Father mirrors certain memories, trying to trick me.Mother can filter out some events, but they leave a blank that lets me know some of her recollections are purposefully missing.But there’s another scenario I hadn’t considered before.What if someone can change his memories to reflect what he wants me to see?”

“Twisting the truth?An Alit can lie with his words but not with his mind.You told me so yourself.”

“Unless that Alit has a very strong mind power.”

I reflect on that for a moment.“No one with such a selective mind power exists.”

His lips curve into a humorless smile.“Not that we know of.”

“You think the guilty party is hiding among us, right under our noses.”

“There’s no other explanation.”

“That’s your big revelation?”

“Think about it, Aruan.You interrogated everyone.I read their minds.Not having found anything is an answer in itself.”

“Tarix?You always say you’re battling to read his mind.”

“He’s vague, but notthatvague.However, at this stage, I think you’d be wise to consider everyone a suspect.”

“That doesn’t help much,” I say grimly.“Which means we’re back to square one.”

“Maybe we’ve been asking the wrong questions and using the wrong methods.Instead of looking for the guilty party by reading minds, we should use logic.Who knew that Elsie would be on the bridge that morning, and who wants to see her gone?”

I stab my fingers into my hair.“Anyone could’ve found out she’d be going there.You know how the walls have ears.”My smile is hard.“As for wanting her gone, that makes up the entire population of Lona.”