Page 90 of Dark Princess Emerging
Across the table, Amanda's knowing look suggested that she hadn't missed their exchange. "We've made good progress with your ability this week," she said. "But we need to continue testing your limits. We have exciting stuff happening over the weekend, so I'm not going to bother you with tests until Monday."
"Good." Morelle managed a tight smile. "I can use the rest to settle into my new home. We're moving into Brandon's place."
"So I've heard." Amanda grinned. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Morelle said.
As the conversation drifted to logistics, with Amanda pondering where Jasmine and Ell-rom might live next and whether Guardians should be relocated to the original section of the village to vacate a house for them, Morelle retreated inward.
Her nullifying power was interesting, she supposed, but it was underwhelming compared to her brother's ability to kill with a thought. Deep in her bones, though, she knew there was something more significant hiding and waiting to manifest.
The frustrating part was not knowing what it might be or whether it would ever emerge.
The Mother knew Morelle had tried to access it back in the temple, desperate to prove herself to the head priestess. But it had been like chasing a half-remembered dream, always hovering just beyond her grasp.
Closing her eyes, Morelle tried to tune out the dinner conversation and peer inward. This wasn't the ideal time or place for such exploration, but something about the energy surrounding her tickled at those elusive edges of awareness.
It had something to do with her family. Their power was like a current she could feel flowing around her like invisible threads of energy that she might be able to touch, to shape into something else, something she could use.
But when she reached for that sensation, it slipped away like water through her fingers.
Opening her eyes with a frustrated sigh, Morelle told herself she was being fanciful. She wasn't really sensing their power; she couldn't actually touch or manipulate it. She was just tired fromthe day's activities—packing her belongings, working out with Gertrude, showering, and changing at Brandon's place before coming here.
"Are you alright?" Brandon's voice was pitched low for her ears only.
"Just thinking." She squeezed his hand under the table.
His thumb traced patterns on her palm that sent shivers up her arm. "About?"
"Everything. Nothing." She watched Allegra successfully make Evie giggle despite the girl's determination to remain serious and hide her face in her father's neck. "My family is incredible."
"That's good, right?"
"Definitely." She leaned against his shoulder. "Though I still feel like I'm waiting for something to happen."
He tensed. "Like what?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe something more interesting about my nullifying ability. So far, it seems pretty useless."
Brandon didn't know about Ell-rom's talent, so she couldn't confess to him that she hoped for something equally powerful. The Mother had played a nasty trick on her and Ell-rom, giving them each powers that would have been better suited if switched.
She would have no problem killing with a thought those who deserved it, and Ell-rom would have been very happy with an ability that could stop her from doing that.
Could she stop him, though? Stifle his death ray like she'd snipped Jin's tether?
It was possible that she could do it, but testing it would be much more difficult than the other tests Amanda had come up with so far.
55
BRANDON
After dinner, the family migrated to Kian and Syssi's spacious living room, where the children were settled on a play mat near the ornate gas fireplace. Brandon regarded the elegant but impractical fixture, wondering about the wisdom of installing even a decorative hearth in Southern California's perpetually mild climate.
Morelle sat beside him on the couch, her hand warm in his, but her attention was clearly elsewhere. Though she smiled and nodded at appropriate moments in the adult conversation, her focus remained fixed on the children playing with blocks on the floor. Her body language suggested she'd rather be down there with them than participate in the discussion about where would be the best location for the clan's future settlement.
Brandon found it only mildly interesting since he knew that Kian was not making any concrete plans, and the village was too new and too valuable to abandon anytime soon.
"You really like children, don't you?" he asked her softly.