I have always been brilliant at keeping my true feelings hidden. About showing a calm expression while secretly wishing I could murder the person I’m talking to — or at least seriously injure them. To fake crying even when I’m not actually saddened by the events happening around me. To throw a realistic-seeming tantrum when it’s required, when it’s good for me to do so.

But wielding a power that requires acknowledging the truth about how you feel? Where your spells are weaker when you lie and hide things?

Hell, you’d think Darkness would love a liar. A person who hides their true self away in the shadows. And yet it’s the truth that I require in order to do things to the best of my abilities.

And I’ve been lying for so long.

I know what the truth is, but expressing it is difficult.

I want to be like Duette, I suppose. Or have a power like hers, where this whole truth thing would be far more a detriment than a helpful thing. If we each had the other’s power, it would be so much easier.

But things are never that easy.