"Okay, the theories aside, one thing we know is that Jill is most definitely a spirit-user. The tests proved it. Yet Jill still carried a disease. Spirit-users never get sick. Let alone get affected by such a mundane sickness like measles. And she claims to 'must have gotten infected by touch'! She would have healed the human, not get infected. She's hiding something."

"Yeah, what's the deal with the measles lie she came up with, anyway?"

"Actually, Rose," said Lissa, "She didn't come up with that lie... I did."

"So you're saying that you told one of the doctors to inform Jill that she was infected by some obscure random disease and see if she would play along," I narrowed my eyes at Lissa.

Lissa gave a wounded look, as if we were accusing her of being the bad guy.

"The blood test had already confirmed that she is a spirit-user, yet when I saw her, her aura was of pastel green and yellow colour. What was I supposed to think? The only possible explanation I could come up with at that moment was that she had been concealing the colour of her aura all along, and that she had always known her element was spirit. Surely, if this was true, she couldn't have thought for a moment that she could possibly go unconscious for two whole days just because of an illness as human as this one. Hence, she would play along and pretend that she believed what we said.

"Plus, she came up with the whole 'I must have gotten infected by touch' line. What were we supposed to think?"

"But that was before you learnt of Rose's theory," Adrian said.

"But that was before I learnt of Rose's theory," Lissa repeated.

"We still need to prove that Jill's hands are clean. That she has no idea whatsoever about the compulsion. That this is even a compulsion."

Adrian crossed his arms. "I've got an idea. Jill or whoever else can't possibly compel every single person on the planet right? Plus, not everyone is a spirit-user and has the ability to see auras, therefore this person only needs to compel people like Lissa and myself. So that leaves everyone else un-compelled, right?"

"Right. The un-compelled aka non-spirit user still can't see auras, though."

"Yes, but that's not a problem anymore, is it?"

Lissa looked back and forth between Adrian and I.

"What?"

"We know someone un-compelled who can immerse herself into a spirit-user's mind. No compulsion plus spirit-magical abilities equal Jill's true colours revealed."

Great. Me! "Rose!"

"Brilliant. So all Lord Ivashkov needs to do is go to see the Princess. All the while, Guardian Hathaway will slip into my lord's mind and see from her perspective, the color of the princess' aura. Then we decide what to do from there," said one of the doctors.

Everyone was discussing all the possible approaches to coax the truth out of Jill and the outcomes.

I tugged on Adrian's shirt and muttered an 'excuse me' to everyone else.

I put as much distance as I could between us and the others before I spoke up.

"Adrian. You sure you wanna do this? I know things have been weird between us, and I ensure you I'd like nothing more than invading your personal space anymore than I already have, maybe we could think of-"

"It's fine," he cut me off. He tried to shrug nonchalantly, though I sensed uneasiness in him. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought he wasn't lying.

Damn. He really was a fine actor. "It's not for me anyway. For Jill, right? Besides, I'm the one who came up with the idea, aren't I?"

He was answering all of his own questions. Another sign that he wasn't telling the truth.

I nodded anyway. For Jill, I repeated in my head. But a part of me knew that no matter who or what we were doing this for, there was an unshakable thing that is intimacy found in the act of immersing oneself in another person's body.

I didn't think Adrian was ready for that kind of inwardness between us, given our circumstances these past days; I knew I was not. He might not even be ready for an innocent friendship with me any time soon.

Restlessness and guilt must have been written all over my face, because Adrian sighed and his expression smoothened.

"Hey," he nudged me. "I just… Want you to know that I'm sorry about how I treated you. How hostile and selfish I have been. Our conversation earlier, about how you said you're trying really hard not to slip into my mind or whatever… It made me realize how much of a jerk I've been to you. And I know that you don't feel good about our plan to confront Jill, because I don't. I'm not going to lie to you anymore. There's no point to it anymore, don't you think?" He forced a smile. "But we'll do what we have to do. So don't worry about how I feel about all of this. We have no other option anyway.

"And also, I want you to quit feeling guilty about the bond. I'm sorry that I gave you the impression of blaming you for all of this. I don't know why I did what I did and said what I said. I guess I was still in shock. I want you to remind yourself too, whenever you feel uneasy about this bond between us, that if it didn't exist, it means that I failed to save you, and you would be dead." His voice dropped into a whisper at the last word.

"And it would've been like hell on earth for me, if that did happen. Blaming anyone for this is the same as saying that I regret saving your life. And I don't. Never in my life will I regret doing this. I will be extremely appalled if anyone thinks otherwise, especially you."

He took a deep breath. "Rose Hathaway, I would have done what I did a thousand times over, no matter the consequence. "

I don't know why, but right there and then I had the sudden urge to cry for everything. I was exhausted, but grateful. I found that I was short on words. I wanted to say everything and nothing at all.

So after awhile, I just said, "Thank you." For not pressuring me. For understanding. For saving me.

There was so much I needed to say, but I just didn't have the energy to. But it seems like that's enough, for now.

For a moment I thought he was going to look at me like I was crazy. But confusion didn't shadow his face, not even for a split second. Instead he nodded, full of understanding. He looked at me like I said exactly what he wanted to hear.

He just gave me another reason to be grateful about. Thank you for looking at me like I said the right thing. I realized I was blinking rapidly, trying not to tear up. But I was overwhelmed, unable to stop gratefulness flowing through me, filling me, making me whole.

Thank you, thank you.

Adrian Ivashkov, I owe you everything I have.