I stagger backward, but she’s already removed her hand from my skin.

“What the hell, Arryn?” I demand.

“I know you wanted your wounds to serve as a reminder to fuel your fire or whatever,” Arryn says dismissively, “but for what we’re going to attempt today, you need to be at full strength. There’s too much at stake for you to go limping into Lengard like a war veteran—we can’t risk your injuries causing any kind of fatigue or weakness.”

I’m seething, unable to form words. The fact that I know she’s right only makes me angrier, because regardless of that, it still should have been my decision.

“You have the same ability as me?” Cami asks, breathless. “I’ve never met another healer.”

“I’m not a healer,” Arryn says.

“I beg to differ,” I growl, crossing my arms and bracing my legs, ignoring how the action brings me no sharp jab of pain. I refuse to be grateful, not when I know I could have asked Cami at any stage to heal me, not when I know she wanted to heal me but respected me enough to let it be my choice.

“I’m not,” Arryn says again, shaking her head. The aura from the flashlight shadows her features, making her look almost ghostly in the blackness of the tunnel. “My ability is like … like an echo. If I touch a Speaker, skin to skin, I can take on whatever Speaking ability they have and use it myself. But I can only do it once before I have to touch them again. Or someone else. I basically have to recharge after every Spoken command.”

An image of the blue flame wall from last night blurs across my mind and I suddenly understand why Arryn couldn’t summon it back again. When Keeda staggered into her and they bumped heads, the skin contact meant that Arryn had been left with Keeda’s ability, keeping her from recreating the fire shield. Not that she could have, since there was no Speaker there with that power for her to “echo.”

Despite my satisfaction at this puzzle piece clicking into place, I’m still sour at Arryn for what she just did.

“So you decided to waste your one shot by healing me against my will?” I ask scathingly.

“You know it was the smart move, don’t deny it.”

I don’t say anything, but I do continue glaring at her. Then my face clears almost unconsciously as I recall something else. “Dante—you punched his arm when we left the others.” I’m filling in the gaps quickly now as I add, “And you didn’t want me to touch you before.”

“I had to make sure Kael didn’t send Jet to follow us,” Arryn says. “Dante’s mind-reading ability was all I could think to use on short notice, since it allowed me to scan the tunnel behind us as we moved along and make sure she wasn’t creeping invisibly after us.” She eyes me and finishes, “If you’d touched me, I would have lost his ability and taken on yours. And I’m not sure I’d be able to understand the scope of what you can do, let alone control it. Not without some training.”