Giving up the useless pretenses, he lowered his guard. “I feelyou. I didn’t notice because I feel everyone, but you’re brighter. I feel you when you’re not around.”
Sean’s unearthly blue eyes glowed like cobalt glass lit from behind. He trained them on David, his expression riveted. “What do you feel?”
David kept his stance relaxed and studied the other man, sifting through his emotions. “You’re scared.”
A muscle twitched near Sean’s eye. “So are you.”
He nodded. “For a different reason.”
“You’re afraid you’ll turn into your ancestor.”
“And you’re afraid you won’t.”
A rueful smile appeared as Sean gazed into the trees behind David. “I’m not who they think I am.”
“Neither am I.”
“No,” Sean said. “You’re not who I thought you were, either.”
A skittery, twitchy sort of sensation prickled over David’s skin. “What do you mean?”
“She said we’re connected, right?” Sean said. “I wanted to see what she meant, so last night I went looking, and I found it. The connection. Do you feel it?”
The world around David muted while he concentrated hard on Sean, searching for the attachment. What he found made him suck in a breath.
A core filament in David’s chest strained toward Sean, like it wanted to reconnect a broken link. Or perhaps strengthen a growing one. Sean’s nearness brought it into focus—a magical bond, a meshwork of ever-dividing threads that coiled infinitely, half himself, half Sean.
Sean’s voice lowered. “You hide the real you behind ice. Why have you kept the best parts of yourself frozen so no one can see?”
He stiffened. “There aren’t any good parts, Sean.”
“It’s fascinating,” Sean said, ignoring him. “Like looking inside a rotten chest only to find it’s full of gold. How do you keep people so blind to who you really are?”
The prickles clawed into David’s spine. Desperate to end the conversation, he motioned to the minute space between them. “We going to do this?”
Sean lifted a shoulder. “It’s not like we’ve never done it before.”
“Back when a punch to your face only hurt my knuckles and not my own face.”
His grin, friendly and teasing, was wholly familiar, but it had never been directed at David. “Scared?”
“Honestly? You’re a bloodthirsty bastard and no amount of coercion has ever worked on you, so…yeah. I’m a little edgy.”
With a laugh, Sean said, “How does that feel, knowing I’m the only one you can’t control?”
“Kind of feels like I’m shackled to someone who won’t shut up but only speaks in mildly offensive limericks.”
“That obnoxious, huh?”
“I hate you.”
Sean raised his brows. “Says more about you than me.”
“You’re probably right.” David rubbed his forehead. “How do you want to do it?”
“No Luster.”
“Right. Because we both know without it, you can fuck me up.”
