Page 62 of A Touch of Stars and Stones (Kirrian #1)

No other special gifts or dangerous ones arise in the morning session.

Some even appear to do nothing, although the hum of energy is there.

Perrin explains that that’s when more practice would help unlock what the magic created.

Working outside rather than inside, with plants, animals, and near bodies of water.

He also pointed out that’s what the trials would do, too. Test us in ways we haven’t yet seen.

More experiments led to more explanations.

Those born under a full moon—Aslendrix at her strongest—would likely align to show the more impressive or interesting magics.

In the afternoon, we switch practice for volumes of books, which I’m happy to comb over, no longer solely focused on the mysterious Order of Fifths. Now I’m studying all the Triune powers, when they were recorded, and what magics they formed.

Many people have studied and failed at predicting what will happen when three people combine.

And somewhere in the library is a witness account from everyone who’s completed training in Kirrasia.

Recording the results of mixing three people within training, just like us today, but only ever from the same training year.

I’ve yet to find out why.

Tiredness, from the early morning training and the exertion in class, has my eyes sore and dusty, and my mind muddled by the end of the session. All I want is to fall into bed and sleep.

“Hey.” Ten catches me as we head out of the classroom. “Got a minute?”

“Um, sure. I was going to lie down before dinner. Especially if…” I switch, “You want to practise later?”

“You can rest, Ever. Nobody will mind.”

“We don’t have time for me to be tired. That’s what you’ve said, well, not actually like that, but you made me believe there’s no time. You were right. Training is slow.”

His brows furrow, and I wish I hadn’t said anything.

“We should practise, too. You’re the only one that I can see how we might train our powers together.” I hadn’t given up on the idea that touching might get easier, either.

“Let’s get you back to your room.” He leads the way back towards the residence building.

His words seem to soothe something in me.

I was concerned, perhaps, that, like last night, he wouldn’t come and find me, and leave me in limbo between wanting to talk to him and hurt that he kept things from me.

There is still plenty to talk about, like working out where or how we might find the information that might tell me more about my parents.

Micah seems to have ventured to the library again, but that feels like a time-consuming task.

There is still too much to do. To learn. And if we’re not asking Ten’s father…

My mind starts to trip over itself, one thought after the other, rushing together and gathering pace as I’m taken right back to the kiss at the waterfall, the night before in my bedroom, experimenting with him, his voice in my head…

Visions of us, what we did and what I want to do spear into my mind and catch my breath.

“Ever,” Ten’s growl snaps my attention back, and the images and thoughts dissolve from my mind. “While I’d happily get lost in those thoughts of you and us. Please, can you give me a little warning next time?”

“What?”

He stops just outside my room, braces his forearms on the wall over his head, and leans his head on them. “You have a very strong ability, especially, it seems, when you’re not thinking about using it.”

“Sorry. I um…” My blush warms my face as I realise what he must have picked up from me.

“I might just go and get a drink. Maybe a snack.” A spurt of energy chases me down the corridor and into the hall, and I knock on the little door to the kitchen to request a plate of snacks and a pitcher of the fruity water they serve with dinner.

With the heat from my cheeks sufficiently chilled, my mind in check, and what I hope might be a barrier of kinds, I take the refreshments back to my room, where Ten’s still leaning against the wall.

“Here. Can you get the door, please?”

He opens it for me, and I step inside, setting the jug and plate on the desk.

“I guess we might need to work on that.” I gesture between us. I still didn’t know why it happened so easily.

“Probably. Or at least defending against it. I think shields need to be part of everyday training for everyone, building those so nobody can get in.” He holds his hands behind his back and shifts his weight.

His eyes look over the bed before he drags them back to me. “Are you going to eat? You need to keep your strength up.” He smiles, warmth emanating from his deep hazel eyes.

“Sure. Kyra will be here later.”

“This won’t take long.”

“Oh, I’m not kicking you out.” I offer him one of the apples from the plate, and he accepts before sitting on the bed opposite me.

“I know I messed up when I didn’t tell you what I suspected. I’m sorry. And I don’t want to do anything that might cause you doubt, so I want to tell you how it went with Kamari.”

“I don’t need a detailed report every time you speak to someone. But if there’s anything about my parents or who we might need to ask for more intel, then that’s what I want to hear about.”

He nods, turning the apple over in his hand before setting it on the table next to the teacup and lying back on the mattress.

I stand and go and sit next to him on the bed. “Can I try something?”

“Sure.” He sits back up and turns his body so he’s looking towards me.

Closing my eyes, I seek the calmness I need and concentrate on the energy I can feel coming from Ten. Touch isn’t an option right now, but as we can still speak into each other’s minds, I want to try this. And it’s practice, right?

“Just stay still.” My lips twitch as I wrangle my calm into submission and blank my mind.

Concentrating on the sound of Ten’s breathing, I pour all my energy towards him, commanding it to rise from the well, pulling a strand of water slowly and easing it towards him.

I feel it flowing forward before it brushes up against a cool sort of cloud around him.

The water seems to wait as if needing more from me to push further, so I do, focusing my energy, and a thread seems to spear through the cloud, as if testing it.

“You’re worried or frightened. I can’t quite tell, but something in that area.” The tiny ripple seems to pulsate, like the strings of vibration I felt earlier in the classroom.

I open my eyes and look at Ten, waiting for him to tell me if I’m right or not.

“After today’s class and what Kamari wanted from me, I’m worried they want to use you as a weapon, to use you to look into possible futures. That might be what all the secrets are about. Ever, your eyes?—”

I blink a few times. “What do you mean, a weapon? Micah said Kirrasia is peaceful. Why would it need me as a weapon?”

“My father is worried about something big. He’s in charge of our armies.

Kirrasia is peaceful, but we intervene and ensure that peace is maintained on the continent and between Nehandun and Sunatora.

Aslendrix only ever granted Kirrians gifts of her power, and we ensure that everyone lives in peace, a duty, or thanks of sorts.

We ensure food is never in short supply and crops thrive.

There’s been no trouble between them or us for years. ”

“And you think it’s related?”

“I think putting the information from both my father and Kamari together suggests something like that. We need to research the last time we had dealings with either the King of Sunatora or Nehandun and what happened.”

Why doesn’t Kirrasia have a King or Queen? Is the Maker a Queen?

It’s my turn to lie back on the bed. The weight of all the information is growing heavy.

“There’s so much to take in. I’ve barely grasped what’s happened to me and what being a Fifth means, that I might have parents out there somewhere, who may or may not have abandoned me or been kept from me, and I can’t touch you without causing you pain…”

“Hey, that’s not something you need to worry about.” He pulls my chin so I’m looking at him, proving his point.

“Ten, I don’t?—”

The energy ripples between us, adjusting to the contact, and heat flares along my skin.

“I choose. And I choose to touch you as, and when, I please.” His jaw tenses, and his eyes burn as hot as the contact between us. He lets go a second later before any images or visions take root, but I know it hurts him to make the gesture.

My stupid heart heard his gesture, too.

A knock at the door has me lifting from my position, and Ten stands, nearly jumping from the bed, just as Kyra opens the door and glides into the room. “Ever, I thought—” She stops as she looks at me and then at Ten.

“I was just leaving,” Ten informs Kyra and stalks to the door. “She’s tired. Not too late.” He turns just before he slips out to give me a nod.

“Okaayy,” she elongates the word. “Want to fill me in?”