Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Fitz dragged out a sigh as he scraped his toe across the sand. “I
guess I can try staying there and see how it goes—but if I do . . . I’m
going to need your help with something,” he told Sophie.
“Anything,” she promised.
He stepped closer, a new intensity brightening his eyes. “I don’t
believe Alvar’s memories are gone. Memories don’t just disappear.”
“Sometimes they do,” she reminded him. “Damel was able to
permanently erase me from my human parents’ minds.”
“Only because you were there to enhance him. Plus, humans don’t
shield their thoughts the way we do.”
“True.” Sophie had suffered horrible headaches from the moment
she’d manifested as a Telepath. “But we’ve checked Alvar’s mind. You
and I tried for hours, remember?”
“I know.” Fitz lowered his eyes, twisting the verdigris thumb rings
that matched the pair he’d given her. “But, we haven’t kept up with
our training, you know? And I’m not blaming you for that—we’ve had
a ton of stuff to deal with. But now that things have calmed down . . .
we need to get back to it. It might be the only way to find anything
hidden in Alvar’s head.”
Sophie wanted to argue so badly.
But he had a point—and it made her eyelashes itch like crazy.
Because Cognate training was about so much more than practicing
telepathy.
Cognates weren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other.
Any secrets.
Which meant Cognate training involved lots of trust exercises.
And that was a problem, since Sophie had one secret she really,
really, really, really, really didn’t want to share.