With an awkward movement, Magdelina stood and stretched. “I’d rather not eat this pig’s food, but I have to think of someone other than myself. Krol needs me healthy for whatever he has in mind. It doesn’t make sense to poison me.” Sitting at the table, she dipped her spoon into the cabbage stew, but not to eat. She mostly pushed the soup around. “I need your help to get word to my mate.”
Alifair laughed. “I would be glad to do that, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m just as much a captive as you are.” She thought about how much she missed Bosse and wished she could see him one more time or send him a message.
Her heart ached with a deep wound from missing him. Did he miss her as well?
Magdelina lifted one eyebrow. “You said you won’t live long as if you accept that fate, but don’t you want to see the man you care about?”
That stopped Alifair in her tracks. She whispered, “What are you talking about?”
Magdelina swirled her spoon in the air and pointed at the door. “You don’t have to whisper. They can’t hear our words, not even a shifter. I can use a small bit of power.”
“Okay, but what did you mean about seeing a man I care about?” A frightening thought struck her. “Are you reading my mind?”
Magdelina sounded insulted when she replied, “Of course not. That would be rude and invasive. You are thinking so loudly I can’t help but hear you. I started out talking in my head to override your voice, but then realized what you were thinking.” She extended her hand and said, “I am not going to harm you, but I do need your help. Just take my hand.”
Magdelina offered her hand, a harmless gesture if not for that atomic power she carried around.
Gulping down a breath, Alifair considered touching someone with way more power than her but reminded herself she needed an ally. Pushing down her fear, she took the woman’s hand, and energy warmed her skin.
Alifair tried to yank her hand back but could not pull free. Panic rattled her. “What are you doing?”
Pulling her lips up to one side, Magdelina challenged, “Don’t be a baby. I’m not hurting you, and I can feelyourpower.”
“You can?” Alifair stopped pulling. “I have nothing compared to you.”
“That’s not exactly true. I do have an unusual level of energy, but yours is simply dormant.”
Alifair tried to wrap her head around that possibility and couldn’t. She’d lived with this body for twenty-five years and knew her limits. “Have youalwaysbeen this strong?”
“Not as much before I met my mate. Bonding with him unlocked all my energy,” Magdelina admitted.
Could that happen if Alifair mated with Bosse?
What kind of question was that? A stupid one.
“Now that we understand each other,” Magdelina said, “let’s stop dancing around. I need you to take a message to my mate.” She had yet to release the handhold.
Alifair smiled sadly at her. “I would help anyone in your situation, but what makes you think I’ll ever cross paths with your mate?”
Magdelina lifted her shoulder. “Humor me, okay?”
She was serious. Alifair glanced over at the small desk. “I looked for a pen and paper earlier. I didn’t find any.”
“No paper. Someone can read anything written down. All you need to do is listen to my message. When you find my mate, tell him I saidkompis budbringer. He will offer his hand as I have.”
“What does that mean?”
“It translates to mate messenger, so he knows it comes from me. Once he takes your hand, he’ll hear my words flow from your mind to his mind. He won’t harm you.”
This was a whole new level of strange for Alifair, and she’d come from prime strange stock. She gave up. “Okay,ifI meet your mate, which I seriously doubt, what do you want me to tell him?”
Magdelina’s face softened with appreciation. “Thank you. I believe he will eventually catch up to me or at least to where I’ve been, and you’ll see him then. I just fear it will not be in time.”
At least Alifair had no way to get it wrong if she ever did meet this woman’s mate.
“By the way, where are we?” Magdelina asked.
“Slovakia. If I had some paper, I could draw a map, but you said no paper,” Alifair mumbled. Then she told her new friend in what area Krol’s castle was located.
