Draconia Offline vol. 1

37.1. Betrayed Trust - Part 1

"N-no! That can't be right! My telepathy isn't...," I'm shaking my head violently, not willing to believe it.

This is just a nightmare, right? My telepathy can't be growing stronger again. I don't want to read everyone's thoughts! As if their emotions weren't enough to give me migraines! Why? Why now? Why at all? Things in the bedroom start trembling menacingly as my mana leaks out, reacting to my disturbed mental state.

"Ryuu, calm down!" Erik jumps to me, hugs me tight and immediately begins rubbing feathers between my wings to relax me. "You can't use mana right now, you'll reopen your wound again!"

"B-but, Erik...," my eyes water.

"Shh, don't talk, just breathe," he kisses me and our deep telepathic connection kicks in automatically.

He's thinking frantically about what it will mean if my telepathy did get stronger again but he's also sending me tons of love. I decide to focus on that and steady my breathing. It must take me more than ten minutes to overcome the shock and it's only thanks to him. The psychologist was right, I'm totally dependent on my partner.

"Never mind that now," Erik catches what goes through my head and waves it away. "Tell me, are you perceiving thoughts of anyone from the other room?"

I take a deep breath and focus on the people in our living room. I can feel Miruel and one other guard but nothing more than their emotions—the same as usual.

"You don't, that's good news," he smiles at me encouragingly. "Maybe you can hear only me because we became so synchronised?"

"M-maybe," I say weakly. That would certainly be the better alternative.

"Let's test that," he says and slowly lets go of me. "Can you hear my thoughts now?"

"N-not really," I dry my tears with the hem of my sleeping kimono.

Erik isn't satisfied with my answer, though, so he makes another attempt.

What about now? I'm really trying to concentrate on a single thing.

"I... I do?!" I flinch and whine because I accidentally moved my right wing.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

"I can hear you just fine, stop with the tongue twisters!" I clutch him again and regret that I can't use both of my wings to envelop us into a comforting cocoon.

"I think it's really just the two of us," he says and continues rubbing my feathers. "Probably because we're so attuned to each other?"

"I hope so," I shiver. "I don't want anyone else in my head. And I don't want anyone to know for now. Not even Liana. She would make a big deal out of it for sure."

"Okay, it can be our sweet little secret," he's actually excited about it, unlike me. "Something only for us to know and enjoy."

"You're thinking about practical implications already," I accuse him and poke his stomach.

"Well, of course, love," he chuckles. "Imagine what we can do with it. We don't have to be touching anymore to hear each other's thoughts."

"Can you hear mine, though?" I doubt. "You're not a telepath."

"Nope, but you can hopefully channel your thoughts to me?" he speculates and lets go of me again even though I don't want to. "Try, please."

Gosh, he's so eager. He seems genuinely thrilled about new possibilities of my levelled-up telepathy. He's like a high schooler who just discovered another means how to send a message to their crush behind the teacher's back. His enthusiasm is catchy, though. I feel much better about my prospects. Maybe it won't be that bad if it stays just between us.

I make several failed attempts to send my throughs to him before his face brightens.

"Oh, I heard that," he laughs and kisses me as a reward. "Do you need mana to do that?"

"I don't think so?" I shrug. "It's not Celestial magic after all, it's my inborn ability. I don't feel my mana circuit reacting when I use telepathy."

"Right, because it's not a spell, it's your extra sense," he gets it.

"Always has been," I nod. "Still, what is magic anyway? We know so little. There might be some scientific explanation."

"Since we don't know, it stays mystical. Now, let's experiment some more. I want you to be able to use it freely with me. That way we can avoid situations like that unpleasant thing with you locking me up to protect me."

"Will you keep reminding me of that from now on?" I frown.

"Oh, I won't miss an opportunity," he says partly amused, partly still pissed about it.

We keep experimenting for another hour before I exhaust myself completely and we fall asleep in each other's embrace.