Liquid Compassion Read Online Free Page A

between them.
    Kalo was friendly enough, but he was taking her to the head administrator of the Citadel. She was about to be interviewed.
    They headed to the highest level of the main tower, and Kalo escorted her to the administrator’s office. He knocked, and when a voice told them to enter, he opened the door and waved for her to go inside.
    “You aren’t coming in with me?”
    “No, Administrator Turnari wishes to see you alone. It will be fine, Abitika.”
    She nodded and moved past him, keeping a safe distance between them. The door closed behind her.
    “Abitika Kenharm of Jrinka blended colony.” The man was sitting in the shadows.
    “That is me, but call me Bits.”
    He moved into a beam of sunlight, and she took in his horns, his beautiful but cruelly cut features and the breadth of his shoulders. She had never seen a Dhemon at close range before, but that was definitely his species.
    “My name is Turnari abin Depkor. I am the administrator here at the Citadel Morganti, but I am also a telepath, and given the strength of your talent, I will be your instructor.”
    She blinked. “What?”
    “You need a quiet and protected space to practice, and there is no space more insulated against mental invasion than this very room.”
    “So, they can’t get in and I can’t get out.”
    “Yes.”
    He was sitting at his desk, and his hands were folded neatly in front of him. It struck her that he was trying not to be imposing.
    “When do we start?”
    He gestured to the chair in front of him. “Take a seat and remove the headpiece that is restraining you.”
    “Now?”
    “Now. I need to do an assessment of your power and the arrangement of your mind. I can’t do that if you are encapsulated in your skull.”
    She settled in the chair and reached up to work the thin wire out from under her hair. When she had it in her hands, she settled it in her lap.
    “You are holding your mind in.” Turnari smiled.
    “Is that what that feels like?”
    “Let it go.”
    Bits closed her eyes and let the crumbly shield she had built shrink down, and she let her mind out.
    Turnari’s mind was a bright beacon, and she surged toward it. He let her touch his thoughts, and she noted that pity was a large part of his reaction to her, but a thread of attraction was in there as well. That surprised her. She was used to being a scarecrow already.
    His voice came through her haze, and she heard. “Just let your mind out to wash over mine. Keep yourself relaxed, keep your mind open.”
    She breathed in and out slowly, feeling the light, cool brushing against her thoughts as he began his examination. She didn’t know how long they were linked together, but when his mind retracted from hers, she tried to mimic him by pulling back as slowly as she could. Soon, she was sitting across from him and smiling shyly. “How was that?”
    He smiled at her in response. “Excellent. The two parts of your talent are supposed to work in harmony, but for some reason, your mental skills activated later.”
    “My sister is a suppressor talent. It might have had something to do with it.”
    “When were you last exposed to her?”
    “Two and a half years ago when I was put in the suit.”
    He nodded and made some notes before looking at her. “What did you sense when you were in contact with me?”
    “I sensed that you are calm, curious, vaguely attracted to me and that you felt pity for me.” She rubbed her palms on her thighs.
    He leaned back. “Anything else?”
    “No, sir. I left you to your privacy.” She inclined her head.
    “Good. That was a lot to pick up from surface contact on a first try.”
    He made a few more notes. He seemed to ignore that she had caught on to his attraction, but perhaps, it wasn’t a big thing to him. It was a huge thing to her.
    She had just become a legal adult before the fiasco, and having anyone attracted to her, even while she was sickly, was a very big deal. His attraction had been to her skin, her hair and