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Resisting the urge to backtrack and immediately beg forgiveness, Alex stood her ground—or at least, she did so from her seated position. “There’s too much at stake here for you to divide your focus between me and some other random student of yours. If you need to change the time we meet, then change it, but you can’t expect me to only receive half of your attention when what I need from you is so important.”

Alex thought her reasoning was logical and eloquent. The silence that met her ears led her to believe Athora must have thought so, too. But when he finally spoke, it was in a tone Alex had never heard from him before. A tone that made even the fire dim in the hearth until it almost went out entirely, casting the room into near darkness.

“You were offered one chance to break my rule, Alexandra,” he told her, his voice sending shards of ice down her spine. “Now that you have done so, consider yourself warned. If you question my judgement again, it will be the last you ever see of me.”

Alex sucked in a stuttered breath.

“Do you understand?”

The intensity emanating from him was like a tangible force, freezing Alex in place. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even nod. All she could do was sit there in the shadows and stare up at the outline of his cloaked figure, her body numbed to the core.

“Do you understand?”

She jumped at his hissed question and, as if waking from a trance, was able to choke out a whispered, “I understand.”

Just like that, the heavy atmosphere lifted. The fire roared back to life in a surge of flames, and with Alex’s heart pounding, warmth began returning to her veins while she rubbed feeling back into her limbs.

“Now,” Athora said, standing to his feet and gesturing for Alex to do so, albeit shakily on her part, “had you given me the chance to explain, this would have been one of the rare cases where I told youwhyyou will be training with a partner.”

Alex was still so intimidated that she couldn’t utter a word in response, not even to offer an apology.

“My other student has a unique gift,” Athora continued, “one that has required much training on his part in order to learn control. He has studied with me for years and is now well adept at managing his ability. And, indeed, using it in extraordinary ways.”

Alex finally summed up the courage to re-enter the conversation. “I don’t understand what that has to do with me.”

“This student, his gift acts as a conduit.”

Shaking her head in bafflement, Alex said, “I don’t—”

“That means,” Athora spoke over her, an edge of warning in his again monotonous voice, “that he is able to take on the gifts of others whom he comes in contact with.”

Alex’s eyes widened as she comprehended what he was saying. “That’s insane,” she gasped out. “The things he might be able to do—” She broke off, and then whispered an awestruck but somewhat fearful, “No one should have that much power.”

“Which is why it was integral for him to learn control—how to control his own gift so he doesn’t take on the abilities of others without choosing to do so, and how to control the gifts that he decides to adopt as his own.”

Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This student of Athora’s… he could, hypothetically, doanything—assuming he encountered the right person with the right gift. He could be telekinetic, like Calista Maine. He could nullify the gifts of others, like Lena Morrow. He could read minds, like Signa Zu. He could turn invisible and walk through solid objects, like Jordan. He could shape-shift, like Skyla. He could charm others with his words, like Bear. He could manipulate people’s emotions, like Pipsqueak. The options werelimitless.

“I’m presuming by your expression that your thoughts have wandered from what this has to do with your training,” Athora said. “You appear… alarmed.”

“Alarmed?” Alex squeaked out. “I’m not alarmed—I’m full-on panicking!”

Athora’s head cocked to the side. “Why?”

“Because… Because…” She couldn’t even form a complete sentence. “Because whoisthis guy? How do you know he won’t go all Anakin Skywalker on you?”

Athora’s head cocked even further. “Who is this Anakin—”

“Eugh, never mind,” Alex said, waving a frazzled hand dismissively while pacing back and forth. “My point is, we already have one megalomaniac to worry about, we don’t need—Flippinghell!” Alex cried out as she was hit with a terrifying realisation. “What if Aven learns about this guy? We’re already screwed, but we’d be evenmorescrewed!” She threw her arms in the air and finished, quite hysterically, “That’d be, like, an unfixable amount of screwiness!”

Near on hyperventilating, Alex almost didn’t process the quiet chuckle she heard over her rapid breathing. But then an amused—andfamiliar—voice spoke up as its owner moved out of the darkness and stepped into the glow of the fire.

“I have to admit, Alex, I’ve never been called a megalomaniac before. But it’s always nice to know I have options.”

Stunned to silence at who she was seeing, not to mention, where, and, apparently,why, all Alex could do was stand there, frozen mid-step, and stare.

Athora broke into her silent shock, a touch of smugness in his otherwise bland tone as he said, “I believe you’re already acquainted.”

Son of a biscuit, Alex thought as she continued her wide-eyed staring.