Page 33 of Twisted Bonds
“Well. Let’s hear it.”
He leans in. “What if we go back to that town where we first found him again? Maybe we’ll find something new this time.”
Oh.
That’s the idea.
“Bobble,” I mumble. “We’ve been back there twice already. I don’t know that a third visit will yield new results.”
The Third’s face falls. He is devastated. I can sense it through the Chroma that pulses around me. “It was a good thought,” I add hastily, unwilling to have his sadness on my conscience. I grip his shoulder in what I hope is reassuring, and a faint pulse of affection wafts from the Third.
Damn this Blue Order.
Although I awakened with it after our soul was shattered, I still do not understand how it works, or how to use it most effectively. I dislike it, sensing emotions of others. Supposedly, I could influence their emotions if I understood how it all worked. However, I do not like to feel even my own feelings, let alone someone else’s.
Yet with each passing day, the awareness grows stronger. When the bond with Mira first snapped in place, I didn’t even notice it. Sure, I felt Mira, but it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary from what I’ve learned of the mate bond.
But now… it’s everyone around me. The other Shards. The innkeeper. The guard I knocked out…
The others mention sensing emotions through the Bond, but to me… it’s as clear as reading it from a list of ingredients. It takes more energy to suppress those senses than it does to feel them these days.
Green Chroma, now that makes sense to me. It was Dan’thiel’s hue, inflicting physical sensations on others through magic. It was easy, useful. I could make a woman feel things without even touching her. I could make my enemy temporarily lose his eyesight or feel as though he’s burning alive.
Useful things.
Emotions, however…
Bobble sighs, disappointment blatant even without Chroma.
As if reading my thoughts, he asks, “When we were talking to the Second, what did you sense from him?”
I tilt my head, trying to remember. “He felt like a lot of things. A mixed-up jumble. More than most people.”
“Maybe you could use your power to find him somehow. Send out little feelers with your Chroma?”
I sit up taller, wiping the sleep from my eyes to give this idea my full attention. “If I were more adept at using this power, perhaps I could manifest it in a way to locate him.”
He fixes me again with a catty stare. “And you didn’t want to try this?”
“It is no use,” I sigh. “I am woefully inadequate when it comes to wielding this dreadful Chroma. I was a master at using Green. But now…Blue is unnatural.”
I can fight in a battle until the sun dips below the horizon. I can make love for weeks at a time. Hell, I can run through a faerie forest carrying Mira and Bobble should I need to. But I cannot, it seems, use my Chroma to find the woman I care so deeply for.
“Have you tried?”
It is my turn to stare at the Third. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, have you tried to reach out and sense for the Second.”
“Of course I’ve tried, but I failed,” I admit, much to my chagrin.
The Third stares at me as though I am the one who has slow ideas. “Well… let’s keep trying.”
“I know myself, Third.” His questioning is making me wonder if I have missed something.
“Okay. Sure. But if you give up, you’ll never get better. Let me help you.”
I sigh.