Page 94 of Malcroix Bones Academy

“I think that’s enough,” he said, his voice thick.

Strangely, maybe stupidly, I still wasn’t afraid of him.

Anger shone in his gold eyes, but there was something strange about it. More than anything, he looked tense to the point of?gods, was that fear? Panic? What the hell was going on with him? Was it the same thing that had scared him as a child? I was still staring at those gold irises, shocked by the depth of feeling there, the vulnerability, when his expression abruptly flattened out. Once it had, his gaze darted meaningfully to either side, right before he released my wrist and leaned back in his chair.

I let out a caught breath.

I managed to do it quietly, and to keep my expression still, to not visibly react. After a bare pause, I leaned back in my own chair and folded my arms.

For a few seconds, we only stared at one another.

“Can I try now?” he asked. “On you?”

His voice was deceptively blank.

I swallowed, and glanced at the clock. Only about eight minutes had passed. We still had a full twenty minutes left in the exercise.

“Sure,” I said, forcing my own voice light.

My nerves must have showed, because he let out a faint scoff.

If he’d noticed I was slightly afraid of what he might do, it didn’t bother him enough to not do it. He sat up straight, and stared at me, and I forced myself to hold his gaze.

His probe wasn’t subtle. He didn’t bother to hide it, or try to trick his way in with a lure, as I had done. He slid into my mind before I’d started to think about a defense, and all I could do was stop thinking altogether.

I silenced my thoughts. I receded through a tunnel I’d learned to envision, back when I was a kid tormented by nightmares that felt horribly real. I did what that first library book and other books taught me to do, and simply went away.

“Hmmm.” His voice held a trace of amusement. He made it lulling, too low for anyone but me to hear. “Interesting, Shadow. You have some actual skills. And here I was, thinking all you do all day is think asloudly as fucking possiblejust to irritate me…”

I flinched, and began to scowl.

Before I could say anything, his next words rose directly inside my mind.

Wouldn’t it be easier if you could learn this part?he asked silkily.So we could talk this way all the time?

I froze.

I stared at him, half-incredulous.

Come on.Impatience mixed with a strange eagerness in his mental words.Don’t tell me it never occurred to you that the process could go both ways? Think at me. I get tired of most of our damned conversations being one-way.

If they’re one-way, they aren’t conversations,I thought back.

He shrugged, but a faint smile tugged at the edge of his lips.Says you.

I frowned, hesitated, considered pursuing that, then figured, what the hell.Why haven’t you been at the practical sessions for Offensive and Defensive Magic?I thought at him.You’ve skipped out for four weeks now.

He let out a half-laugh, and leaned back, balancing on two legs of his chair.

When I refocused on his face, he smirked.

So?I prompted.You’re listed as being in the same class as me. Why haven’t you been there?

Ihavebeen there. Because I’m licensed, I fight in a different area.

I frowned.Why?

So I don’t have to hold back,he thought. He measured me with his gold eyes.Does that scare you, Shadow?