Betrayals Read Online Free

if I’d been standing. I’d forgotten all about that business of telling ourselves not to obey, and it made an enormous difference. If one of the man’s commands hadn’t worked, the other shouldn’t have worked either. I wasn’t permanently cut off from my talent, even if I hadn’t been able to detect the power at all….
    With that thought I’d automatically reached out again, the way someone newly paralyzed probably tried without thinking to stand and walk. The only difference was that this tune I detected a glimmer of something, a distant hint of the great ocean of power usually right there beyond my mental fingertips. The ocean was still there, only not quite as close as it should be and not as easily reached. But that was better than not being able to detect anything….
    Worry sent me up on my feet and pacing again, the darker emotion dimming the excitement I felt. I was now in a much better position than I’d been in earlier, but what had that Lord Lanir said about my talent? Something concerning “whatever ability” I might “have left”? He obviously knew something that I didn’t, and it remained to be seen how true his beliefs were.
    After pacing back and forth for a while, I finally decided that I needed a cup of tea. I went to the tray and poured the cup, but didn’t so much as glance at whatever food lay under the plate covers. I might be free of needing to obey the monster who held me in capture, but without my talent I would certainly be helpless to defend myself against him. If a distant touch were all I ever found it possible to accomplish, I would still prefer to be dead.
    Another stretch of time passed as I paced slowly and sipped tea, and the next change occurred so abruptly that I nearly dropped the teacup. One moment I walked and worried, and the next I was again so firmly touching the power that I staggered dizzily. Before this latest insanity began I hadn’t been able to release the power except when I fell asleep, and now I seemed to be back to that exact same state again.
    “So why wasn’t I able to reach it sooner?” I asked aloud in a murmur, feeling the strength of personality that being in touch with the power always brought. “And why did that fool think my talent would be less than it was?”
    Asking that second question aloud was indulging in a bit of bravado, as I felt quite clearly that I wasn’t completely back to the way I’d been. There was still something of a … drag, of sorts, slowing down my reactions and limiting my access to the power. That didn’t necessarily mean I would remain less than I’d been, but—
    “Oh, for pity’s sake,” I muttered, beginning to be really disgusted with myself. “That sedative the noble mentioned … If it was hilsom powder, it’s no wonder I’m coming back so slowly.”
    I’d beard of hilsom powder, of course, but never having used it myself meant I’d known nothing of the details concerning it until Lorand had explained its main purpose and effects. Hilsom powder was used for the most part by physicians, and not just to sedate certain patients, but also to separate them from the power. Even Low talents can cause a good deal of havoc if they’re hysterical, or insane, or even just delirious from a fever. Hilsom powder denies them the use of their talent while they’re sedated, and returns their ability slowly over a period of time.
    “So that means all I should have to do is wait,” I murmured, feeling a good deal better. “Once I’ve regained every bit of my strength, I’ll simply walk out of here. Anyone who tries to stop me will find out the hard way why Fire is the guardian talent in a Blending—”
    My words broke off rather abruptly, the silence caused by a sudden, deeper understanding of what I faced. Once I left that house, I not only had nowhere to go, I had no idea how I would locate the others. And I had to locate them, no other course of action was possible. They needed my help—assuming I found it