“You should let Havil look at you,” Torran said, his voice quiet.

“I’m fine, I just did too much this afternoon, and I don’t bounce back as easily as I once did. There’s nothing he can do about that.” I paused and dropped my arms. “Is it possible for me to shield pain so he can’t sense it?”

Torran stared at me for long enough that I figured he wasn’t going to answer. I mentally shrugged. It was worth a shot.

“It’s possible,” he said at last.

I leaned against the counter and waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “Will you tell me how to do it? I don’t want Havil to have to suffer just because I’ve overdone it.”

“Havil’s job is to monitor the team, but if he needs to, he can shield far more easily than you.”

“When he was working on my knee, he told me it would take more energy to shield from the pain than it would to fix it.”

Torran smiled faintly. “I believe he may have stretched the truth in order to secure your cooperation. Empaths have some of the strongest and most complex shields I’ve ever seen. They have to or they don’t survive long.”

“But if his job is to monitor the team—which is a subject we will definitely be returning to—then he’s not going to shield, so I should still learn how.”

Torran stepped closer and his gaze swept across my face. My stomach clenched with a combination of desire and wariness, but he merely said, “You want me to make you a more dangerous enemy.”

“I want you to make me a more dangerous ally,” I corrected. “We’re only a few hours away from Valovian space. On the off chance that your offer is real and not just a thin ruse to lure me and my team to our untimely ends, it would be better if every Valoff we meet can’t read my thoughts and tell when I’m hurt. You said my shields are shit. Help me make them better. Or at least let Havil do it.”

I’d already approached the other Valoffs over the past few days, but they’d all gently demurred when I’d tried to broach the subject with them. Torran was my last chance. I probably should’ve started with him, but I hated showing him my soft underbelly.

Still, it would be far better to learn what I could before we landed.

Torran continued to stare at me for a long moment, then he dipped his chin. “Very well. But I will have to touch your mind to help you. Will you allow it?”

I couldn’t help the grimace that wrinkled my nose. Admitting my shields were shit was far different from having him poke at them—and my thoughts. “Can’t you just explain what I need to do?”