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He tried reading her mind again.

Nothing.

"I won't be asking this again of you, Catalina. So tell me now. What are you?"

A heartbeat of silence passed, and when she spoke again, it was not the answer to his question.

"Is something wrong? You're scaring me."

Michalis ended the call without a word.

He had trusted a woman once.

And nearly every member of his kindred had died because of it.

He could not and would not allow himself to make such a mistake again.

****

ICHECK MY PHONE BEFOREleaving my desk for lunch, and pain pinches my heart when I see that Michalis still hasn't replied to any of my three texts.

Honestly, I'm tempted to text him thirty times more, but I'm unfortunately at that age where I know the number of texts you send never matters.

If someone wants to talk, you'll hear from that person, regardless of whether you've texted him once or a hundred times.

And the King...clearly doesn't.

I wait to hear from him for the rest of the day, but everything remains silent from his end, and I don't even realize what's happening until Toni wheels her chair close and presses something into my hand.

Tissue?

I touch my cheek, and I'm surprised to find it wet.

"What's wrong, Cat?" Toni asks softly.

"I'm not really sure." I try to smile, but it's just too hard. "I wish I knew, but I don't." And that's what makes everything hurt so much more.