Are you?
Have you ever loved anyone in your life?
Your mother? Your father?
Yourself?
She wanted to ask, wanted to pry into the secrets that brewed under his mysterious half smiles and arctic emotions. She wanted to know what Sean had meant when he’d told her David was hiding his skills at hurting people. She wanted this man to show her the flash of vulnerability she’d seen yesterday when he’d spoken ofprisons and magic that ruled his life because this magic was ruling her, too.
The emotional bombardment was consummate pain at times, overwhelming in its intensity. Did he feel it like she did? Was the glacier his way of numbing the cacophony she’d spent her whole life wishing she could suppress? Anna had never met someone so contained. He’d bottled up everything, and she wondered what would happen if it all burst apart. The fallout might be lethal.
“But he wasn’t always like that,” David said, pushing the book away. “Most of the memories are good ones. So I wonder…was it Morgan’s magic that drove him to detach from his humanity?”
Dear Mother, she hoped not.
“Or maybe it was just him.” Desolation echoed through the ice, like a cry for help she could barely hear.
“It’s okay to feel hurt by all this,” she said. “You know that, right?”
Suspicious green eyes lifted toward her again. “I’m not hurt.”
But he was. He just didn’t want her to know it. And she didn’t want him to discover she could feel that pain.
Or did she?
Only then becoming aware that she’d gravitated toward him, she straightened in her seat, wincing at the protest of her sore muscles. “Maybe we should take a break from Morgan.”
“Maybe you should take a break, period,” said a voice outside their bubble.
She jolted.
Maddy stood just beyond the alcove, hands on her hips. “Did you forget we were meeting in the Great Terrace for supper?”
Anna glanced out the window, stunned to find the afternoon light had dimmed to evening. “Sorry. I lost track of time.”
“Mm-hmm.” Maddy shifted her attention to David. “You.”
He bestowed the devastating half smile on her. “Me.”
“David, this is Madlyn. She’s my roommate. Best friend. Dedicated guardian. Et cetera.”
“Andyouneed no introduction,” Maddy said to him.
“Pity,” he said, still hiding behind his crooked smile. “I was dying to hear what titles she’d give me.”
She let out a bubbly laugh. “And now you’ll never know.”
Anna stood, stretching her stiff muscles before organizing the books into two piles. “Same time tomorrow?”
A brief flash of surprise lit the green of David’s eyes before he nodded. “Sure. If you can tolerate it.”
Maddy shot a warning look at him as Anna passed behind her. “You’re lucky she’s so nice. Be polite—and none of your woo-woo magic, or there will be consequences. No second chances.”
“Maddy!” Anna hissed.
“What?” Her tone was entirely unapologetic. “I’m your guardian.”
“Yeah, fromattacks. Not from…blond reprobates.”
