Blue

Something about blood

It had to have been the blood. She had felt queasy as soon as she saw that blood on her palm.

Had she seen Ander and Mykel's faces at the oath ceremony she would have known right off that she was wrong

She knew she was wrong in her thoughts. Her body seemed to thrum whenever Atlas was near. She hated it.

It was no use trying to reason with herself. Tallulah knew something happened with the mate bond between her and Atlas and she was too scared to ask what it was.

Training commensed early each morning and then patrol, mainly of the halls and the keep itself. It was enough to keep her busy, but not enough to keep her mind from wandering.

There were twenty guard members altogether, and she was the youngest. They poked fun at her lack of facial hair, but to tell them the truth would be suicide so she took it with a grain of salt.

They switched positions every two hours. There were three dominant groups, his chambers, the counsel room, and the throne room. There were also members that were his personal guard. Most of the time she was at the counsel room, only once in the last month had she been anywhere else.

She was able to learn a little about the goings on though, through Atlas' thoughts. She knew she'd never be able to mention that in conversation though, she'd be questioned until some type of truth emerged. She knew that he was trying to find a spy amongst his council but so far whoever it was had been succeeding in their endeavors and the war was going poorly for Atlas' people.

She had several ideas of how to weed out the spy, the only catch she had no way to tell him...unless. she almost lept with joy at the idea. If she could hear his thoughts, maybe she could get him to hear hers, but she had to do it in a way that would make it seem the thought was his.

He hadn't sent any thoughts her way since her post began so maybe...she closed her eyes and reached for that little hum that sat in the back of her head ever since she'd first heard Atlas' thoughts. It was fuzzy, but she pushed through that feeling and a flood of seemingly everything bombarded her mind. She almost panicked but couldn't. She saw flashes of memories pass by her. Shaking them away she pushed the thought, "I must plant different pieces of information in each of these men's mind if I want to find out the spy," before retreating back into her own head.

That was a very weird experience. She dwelled on the most vivid memory that had come across her field of vision. It was of a beautiful girl, bright red scales adorned her neck and face. She shared similar features as Atlas. Their same regal brow and full lips, but that's where the similarities stopped. Her hair was golden, and her eyes honey. Tallulah wondered who she was.

Soon the council room emptied. Atlas seemed frazzled. Had her comment effected him that much? She regretted her actions now.

"My lord, are you well?" She asked.

"As well as I can be, I had a strange occurrence in my meeting, and I don't know what to make of it," he replied. She knew then that her actions had done more harm than good. But she couldn't take them back.

"Walk with me, Talon," he said.

She followed closely behind. For a bit they were silent.

"I trust you, more than anyone I've surrounded myself with, you know?" This statent sent a pang of guilt through her. Of anyone he knew she felt she'd been the most deceitful towards him. But he couldn't know the truth. She couldn't respond to his words.

"I know that someone on my council is being deceitful and treacherous because valuable information has been shared with our enemies," he was just telling her things she already knew, but he didn't know that. "I need to find who it is and bring them to justice. How do you think I should go about that?" She couldn't answer in the way she had before, it might seem too coincidental so replied that she didn't know.

"A thought, or rather an intense desire occured to me in my council meeting and I want your opinion. I think that in order to catch this spy I will give each person on the council a piece of false information and see what results from that. What say you?"

"I think, that it is a good idea, but how would you go about doing that? I mean potentially you could invite each to a dinner or write them a letter of sorts?" She replied. She hadn't thought this through enough to give a real response.

"I think you have a good head on your shoulders, I like that thinking," she almost beamed with pride, but didn't, her smile was too feminine. Instead she nodded her thanks.

She had to switch to patrol soon and therefore left Atlas' presence.

Later that evening while on break she discussed what had happened with Mykel and Ander.

"He didn't suspect it wasn't his own thought?" Mykel asked.

"I don't think so, he didn't give much of a notion if that was the case. Is that normal though? To be able to reach into one's mind like that? You two try it," she said.

"I'll let you try to enter my mind in the same manner," said Ander to Mykel. There was silence for a moment before Ander said, "now I have the strange desire for ale,"

"Yes, that was me, I did as Tallulah described and implanted that thought,"

"So it can be done without the other person's knowledge, that is so interesting. I can see why Atlas was so disturbed when he came out of the meeting. That thought must have incurred such a desire for him that it threw him off balance in a sense," the possibilities for that were suddenly endless. "Did you by chance see memories? When you entered Ander's mind?"

"Yes, I did," Mykel replied. Ander's face turned a bright red, so she didn't ask any further questions.

"What did you see in Atlas' mind, Tallulah?" Mykel asked.

"A young girl, with red scales and golden hair," she replied.

"Ah, Arila, Atlas' sister, most nobles know about her, but the main public does not. She was a sickly child and died young," she had assumed the worst, but now she felt guilty.

She wanted to ask, but was embarrassed, had the trading of blood during the oath ceremony seal the bond she had with Atlas? She could not express her worry enough to herself that she would be absolutely disgraced if anything about who she was, who she really was, was brought to the light.

She would be shunned, forever, Atlas would not want her, not really, although Ander had said he would.

It was not the first time worry like this had seeped into her sleep, causing for a fitful night.