“Then what?”
“My singing. I…I regret what happened. I shouldn’t have hummed that day.”
He’s silent for a few moments, studying my face. My entire being flushes beneath his scrutiny. “Why would you regret it?” he asks.
“You know why.”
He leans back slightly, expression wary. “I do?”
“You said so yourself that night. I’m dangerous. I ensnared you with my power. That can’t be short of an attack on a royal. A crime.”
He shifts awkwardly in his seat. His answer comes out low, barely above a whisper. “When I said your magic is dangerous…that’s not what I meant.”
I frown. “How did you mean it?”
He says nothing.
“Which is it, Franco? Are we going to be honest, or are we going to flit around each other like…like—”
“Like mating butterflies.” He slouches to the side, his wary expression shifting to a sly smirk in an instant.
I clench my jaw. “Now you’re trying to evade the question with your charm and humor.”
“So you admit it. Iamcharming.”
If we weren’t in a rowboat, I’d storm away from him right now. Since we’re stuck together at the center of a lake, I can only burn him with a glower. He wants honesty? He can have it. “I know you do that in self-defense. You shy away from serious topics and try to act like you don’t care. I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, but it doesn’t work on me.”
His eyes go wide, expression falling as he slowly slides out of his lazy slouch. For several moments, silence hangs heavy between us. A tingling sensation crawls up the back of my spine, and the meek human side of me urges me to beg forgiveness. I refuse. He asked for honesty.
“You’re right,” he finally says. “About me. About how I’ve been avoiding you and treating you differently since the opera. I didn’t realize I was doing that until now. All week, I’ve been focused on howyouwere acting aroundme. I never realized I was being different too. But the reason why I acted that way isn’t what you think.”
My shoulders relax, and muscles I hadn’t realized I’d been clenching begin to uncoil. “You mean, you’re not upset with me for using my magic on you?”
“I wasn’t upset. I was…embarrassed.”
“What would you have to be embarrassed for?”
His eyes flick to me but don’t linger, instead hovering somewhere over my shoulder. “I could barely form a coherent word around you after that.”
“Which is why I was racked with guilt. I didn’t mean to do that to you.”
He huffs a laugh, shaking his head with subdued amusement. “I don’t think you know exactly what you did.”
“What did I do?”
His eyes return to mine, and he smiles. Not a smirk or a sly grin, but a soft, hesitant smile. After a few beats, his face turns serious again. “Why are you so afraid of your power?”
My heart pounds heavy against my ribs, my lungs constricting. I can’t stop my fingers as they begin to drum against my seat. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s all right,” he says slowly, his gaze falling on my fluttering fingers. “How about this? We each ask and answer question for question and agree to state only the truth.”
My breaths continue to feel tight, but I manage to still my tapping fingers. “That’s easy for you.”
“Well, yes, I’m incapable of lying. But if you can promise not to lie to me, I’ll promise neither to evade nor deceive.”
The offer is tempting. There are many mysteries I’d like to unravel about him, but still…
“I can’t answer the question you asked,” I say. “I’m not comfortable talking about that.”
