A word popped immediately into Sophie’s mind, but—

“No,” Oralie said before Sophie could even finish the thought, and she gave Sophie’s wrists another gentle squeeze. “Don’t edit yourself. What word did you just think of?”

Sophie shook her head. “It wasn’t the right word.”

“How do you know?” Oralie countered. “Tell me and we’ll see what happens.”

Sophie sighed. “I thought of ‘frustrating,’ because I can’t control it—but that’s why we’re doing this, so…”

“We are. But you’re on the right track. How does the ability make you feel? How do you feel about the gloves and the fingernail gadgets and the fact that someone could use the ability against you?”

“I… hate it,” Sophie whispered. “It’s so restricting.”

As soon as the word left her lips, she felt her heart shift—and not just lighten. It was more like…

Like it settled into a slightly new position.

The right position.

Uncovering a small, delicate thread underneath.

A raw nerve.

Another rush of energy hummed around it, and Sophie let it soak in, feeling the nerve twist and tighten until it felt like…

A string on a violin—and when she let her will slide across it, she felt the tiniest tug in her chest, zinging down her arms, all the way to her fingertips, where…

… her enhancing flickered off.

“Whoa,” Sophie breathed, blinking her eyes to focus on Oralie, who was flashing the brightest, loveliest smile Sophie had ever seen. “I can’t believe that worked. How did that work?”

“Honestly, it’s a little abstract even for me,” Oralie admitted. “But I think it comes down to the raw honesty of the exercise. You separated yourself from all of the preconceived notions of what you wanted your abilities to be, or what you thought they should be, and found the pure, simple truth—that for every advantage they bring, they also carry a complication. And you can own the challenge of that without being daunted by it because the responsibility of each ability is something you were made to carry, made to control, made to overpower.”

“I guess that sorta makes sense,” Sophie murmured, dropping one of Oralie’s wrists so she could rub her chest. “Unless I just turned off my enhancing for good.”

Oralie shook her head. “Try turning it back on—without fear or doubt. Turn it back on because you want it to be on.”

Sophie wasn’t sure what that meant, but she closed her eyes and felt for that same fragile nerve, thinking of all the good things her enhancing brought, and when her heart stepped up a beat, she let that rhythm slide down that new nerve ending and…

Another soft tug had her fingertips buzzing with enough energy to make Oralie’s wrist flinch in her grasp.

“Sorry, should I let go?” she asked, but Oralie tightened her hold.

“No,” she murmured, “it’s fascinating to feel the emotional shifts you’re experiencing. Such confidence and wonder and confusion and pride. I strongly suspect that the more you focus on whatever you’re doing to affect the power, the more you’ll notice subtleties that will allow you to even decide how much you want to enhance someone, so that it’s no longer an all-or-nothing ability.”

“Really?” Sophie asked, rubbing her chest again.

“Is that where the control pulls from?” Oralie asked, pointing to Sophie’s hand, where her fingers massaged a spot close to the center of her ribs, just to the right of her heart.

“I think so.” Sophie switched her enhancing off again to test it. “Yeah, that’s where I feel the tug.”

Oralie smiled. “I knew enhancing had to rely on the same inner strength as empathy! It explains so much!”

“It does?” Sophie asked.

“Well… it at least explains why your enhancing is so much stronger on Empaths.”

“True,” Sophie agreed. “Though my enhancing’s also stronger on Telepaths—but that might be because of what Lord Cassius said. He said the way I use my telepathy reminds him of an Empath,” she explained when she saw Oralie’s confusion. “I pick up on emotions with my thoughts, I guess, without having to be in the emotional center. Have you ever heard of anyone doing that?”

“No,” Oralie admitted, turning her head to study Sophie. “But given your unique history, I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Yeah, neither am I,” Sophie admitted. “Though it makes me wonder…”

“Wonder what?” Oralie pressed when Sophie didn’t finish.

Sophie shook her head. “I’m not supposed to be thinking about that right now.”

“Well, I don’t know what you mean—but it’s clearly upsetting you.” She ran her thumb across Sophie’s wrist to remind her she could feel everything Sophie was feeling right now. “It might help to at least talk about it.”

Sophie sighed, reaching up to tug out an itchy eyelash. “I was just thinking about something that Lady Cadence told Biana and Stina. She said she thinks the Black Swan wouldn’t have given me the same abilities as my biological parents because that would make it too easy for people to figure out who they were. And if she’s right… their genetics would probably still affect me in certain ways, you know? And so many things about me are similar to Empaths, so… maybe that’s what one of my parents is.”

Oralie went silent.

“Don’t worry—I’m not going to get all distracted by this like I was before,” Sophie promised. “I told Stina and Biana and Keefe to stop coming up with theories and questioning people about whether or not they’re my biological parents until everything settles down with the dwarves.”

Oralie frowned. “Wait… does that mean… you thought Lady Cadence was your mother?”

Sophie’s cheeks burned as she nodded. “It’s not like I wanted to be related to her or anything. But… she’s a Polyglot, so it seemed worth looking into—but Biana and Stina were pretty convinced that she was telling the truth when she said she’s not. And if she’s also right about her theory, then the abilities don’t really tell me anything anyway—unless I’m right that the abilities would still affect me in certain ways. It kinda makes sense, doesn’t it? Especially if it’s an Empath?”

“No,” Oralie told her—so firmly and immediately that Sophie should’ve been disappointed.

But.

But.

She’d… also felt a tiny shift in Oralie’s pulse.

Three skipped beats.

And Sophie’s own heart tripped over itself when she remembered what that meant.

“So…,” Sophie said slowly, wanting to make sure she hadn’t imagined the tell, “you don’t think one of my biological parents could be an Empath?”

“I honestly haven’t given it a lot of thought,” Oralie told her, pulling her wrist free.

But before she did, Sophie felt it again.

Three skipped beats.

And Oralie could’ve been lying for any number of reasons.

But… Sophie couldn’t stop her brain from reminding her that Oralie was an Empath.