Chapter 4

Mark was not a patient mentor.

His flashy energy projection Gift was impressive in a fight, but he lacked the meticulous patience needed for teaching.

Olivia' s empathic absorption, a subtle Gift, needed careful guidance, the kind I had given her in our first life.

Under Mark' s sporadic and impatient tutelage, her development stagnated.

He was more interested in Sophia, who, with her heightened intuition, quickly learned to flatter him and anticipate his needs.

Olivia, however, only had eyes for me.

She'd find excuses to be near my training room, her gaze full of a desperate longing that I pointedly ignored.

I focused on my illusions, honing them, pushing their limits. I needed to be stronger, self-reliant.

One evening, Sophia found me in the archives.

She was older now, nearly a young woman, her initial quietness replaced by a shrewd confidence.

"Ethan," she said, her voice smooth. "We need to talk. About Olivia."

I didn't look up from the ancient text I was studying. "There's nothing to talk about."

"She' s obsessed with you," Sophia stated. "It' s becoming a problem. For Mark."

I finally met her gaze. "Mark' s problem, not mine."

"He' s tired of it," Sophia continued, stepping closer. "He' s tired of her moping, her constant questions about you. He thinks you' re encouraging her."

"I've barely spoken to her."

Sophia smiled, a thin, unpleasant expression. "That doesn't matter to Mark. He' s planning to accuse you at the next Council meeting."

"Accuse me of what?"

"Of aiding a rogue Gifted," she said, her eyes gleaming. "That homeless man you saved with the Vitality Draught? Mark' s going to say he was an agent of Nightfall, and you knew it. He' ll say you' re a sympathizer."

It was a flimsy accusation, but Mark' s charisma could make anything stick with the easily swayed Council.

"Unless," Sophia purred, "you agree to take Olivia off his hands. Mentor her. Keep her away from him."

She was playing her own game, clearly wanting Olivia out of Mark's immediate vicinity to secure her own position with him.

"So, you' re delivering Mark' s ultimatum?" I asked, my voice dangerously soft.

"Think of it as a friendly warning," Sophia said. "For Olivia' s sake, of course. And yours."

Her concern was as fake as Mark' s benevolence.