He almost laughed. “Do you think anything will happen to them?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never felt anger like what I sensed in Sean today. My skin still feels scalded. I think he’d punish them himself if he was allowed.” Stepping closer, she gazed into his eyes and lowered her voice. “It really scared me. You—you weren’t going to free yourself.”
“Showing them the magic only makes them trust me less.”
Anna hesitated. “Is that why you stopped me?”
His hand lifted like it couldn’t stand not touching her, and he brushed his thumb over her cheek. A scarlet wave followed, and damn if he didn’t relish that. “They can never find out about you, Anna. Theyfearme, and look what happened. Imagine what they would do to you. If someone hurt you, I’d have to kill them.”
She swallowed, and her gaze dropped to his chest. “You know…I thought, when I woke up and you weren’t there, that maybe you…had regrets.”
He slid his fingers down the soft column of her throat, then dropped away. “Not for a second,” he said. “Just giving you space.”
A tiny smile curled her mouth.
“How’d you know where I was?” he asked.
Her voice softened. “Because I know you.”
At those words, David’s heart decided it needed to pump lavastraight into his bloodstream. Difficult to make out in the gloom, her blue eyes lifted again to his.
“Do you?” he asked, setting the basket on a shelf beside him.
Anna nodded. “Which is why I found this.” She extended the book toward him, a slim volume, pale blue, faded.
Script letters decorated the front cover:On Soule Binding.
Sparkles appeared at the edges of his vision.
Breathe.
He had to breathe.
By sheer force, he willed away the panic. “Did you read it?” he asked, voice steady even though it wanted to shake.
She nodded. “Some of it.”
“Tell me the good parts.”
Anna took his wrist and pressed the book into his hand. “I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re imagining.”
“Are you lying?”
She bit her lip. “There are parts you won’t like.”
“Such as?”
“It says…you’ll become like one person in two bodies. If he hurts, you’ll hurt. If he’s sick, you’ll be sick. You’ll feel what he feels, think what he thinks.”
David stared numbly at the book in his hand. His thumb dragged across the ancient embossing. “When did you find this?”
“Just now. The librarian helped me.”
“There’s a librarian?”
She laughed. “On the top floor.”
“Ah.”
