They remained still, studying each other. Her vibrant emotions tumbled through a winding roller coaster too fast for him to parse any running themes. They burned, purer and brighter than anyone else, like a magnesium flame. She felt everything all at once—joy and sadness, fear and excitement, affection and hostility. Too much for any one person to feel at one time.
“Look at it this way,” he said, attempting to breathe some nonchalance into the air between them. “Of all the people to discover your secret, I’m probably the best one.”
Her brows drew together.
“I know what it’s like. And I know how to help you.”
A falling star of surprise flared and died inside her. “Help me? Why would you do that?”
He gestured toward the stack of books. “Why have you helped me?”
Anna’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t have a choice, if you recall. You coerced me into following you here.”
“I coerced you to come. I didn’t coerce you to stay.”
Her tense posture finally relaxed, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. “You’re right.”
“So why did you stay then?”
“I stayed…because I was curious. Because you were nicer than I expected you to be. And…because you’re lonely.”
He froze.
“I can’t sense most of what you’re feeling. You hide behind this glacier so thick, it’s impossible to penetrate. But your loneliness coats you like frost, and…I don’t like it.”
Well, that was unexpected, and critter-like sensations crawled over his skin as he realized how easily this woman could dismantle all his hard-won control. David liked his mask. The mask wascomfortable. Easy. Safe. He didn’t want to be understood, didn’t need anyone diving into his subconscious and dredging forth the parts that had broken him.
Inside, he was a very fucked-up man. His past had left scars on his soul, and he’d gone to great lengths to cover them. The icy mask was his hardiest self-defense, and Anna could see right past it.
“Would you really help me?” she asked, striking an ice pick against it.
He cleared his throat and forced himself to remain outwardly calm. “I mean, not here. We’d have to go somewhere private. The coercion came naturally to me, but there are some tricks.”
“The emotion stuff came naturally for me. I never even had to think about it.”
David chuckled. “You say I feel like ice. You feel like standing in the middle of an emotional war zone.”
The pink rushed to her cheeks again.
“Have you ever done the voice thing?” he asked.
She shook her head. After a beat of hesitation, she scooted her chair back to the table and lowered her voice. “Would—would you mind—maybe, keeping this a secret?”
A battering ram collided against the ice inside. It shouldn’t have surprised him that she didn’t want people to know, but the disappointment was hard to suppress. He hadn’t realized until that moment how isolated he really felt. He’d finally found a kindred spirit, and she wanted to keep it secret.
“Of course,” he said, voice even.
A smile flickered, and her entire emotional core glinted with excitement, almost blinding. “Thanks. So, I’ve been dying to ask you. What does it feel like to you?”
“What does…what?”
She motioned around them. “All the emotions. Everywhere. Do they hurt?”
…Hurt?
“No.”
Her shoulders fell. “Do you see the future?”
