Arianna held her breath as she walked past Samuel, who was on his way out of the mansion. He looked pretty satisfied, although his purple eyes unnerved her. His kage must have been in charge throughout their little discussion. At least now she knew that he had a kage. It would help her in the future, if he ever returned and caused trouble.

Mathias’s words still rang through her head, unnerving her at her core. Did he notice her telepathy when she heard Samuel’s thoughts? Or did he have a kage that could tell, somehow? She even wondered if she had accidentally let a thought of her own pass into his mind, which had happened before under times of nervousness. That thought unnerved her even more. Arianna had tried very hard throughout the past year to put up a block on her mind, preventing her from unintentionally letting her own thoughts be transferred to another’s. Before this little accident, she thought she had mastered the ability. Perhaps she was wrong…

Arianna paused before she re-entered Iktomi’s “throne” room, gathering herself. She ran her hands through her hair and over her face, wiping away the uneasiness that plagued her. For now, she was safe. Arianna didn’t doubt that Iktomi would protect her under any circumstances, but now she wondered if his work would end up harming her. He was a large power in Sovereign now, and with large power comes enemies. Was she really safe here? Not from Iktomi, but from his enemies? Surely staying here meant that she was on his side, when really she wasn’t on any side at all. She sighed and ran her hands over her face again. For now, she would stay. She couldn’t leave Iktomi right after she had found him. She wanted to know so much more about him than she did now, and she intended on finding out.

After taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Arianna turned the knob. Her gaze immediately went to Iktomi as she stepped into the large room. “Well, that certainly was intriguing.”