Page 34 of Miles

13

Miles

Those eyes of hers.Wide-set, innocent but knowing all at once. Prying into me. Refusing to blink or look away. Demanding to know the truth.

I had the unsettling feeling that she was dipping into my mind, rooting around. Searching for answers, I tried to hide from her.

I couldn’t hide them forever, could I? She wouldn’t need her casts much longer. She may already have healed, for all I knew. Phillip would have to give her an x-ray to check. But she thought her limbs were broken, so it wasn’t as if she would dare test them.

More than that. Much more. She would have to know who I was, what I was. What we were.

The dragon couldn’t hide forever. I wanted her to know me—it was torture, keeping silent over such a basic, vital part of myself. Just looking into those eyes made me want to tell her everything, to talk until my voice broke and nothing came out but a whisper.

Only this didn’t have to do with just me. I had to be careful. How had the others told their mates who they were? How had the girls reacted? Why didn’t we ever talk about things like that?

I could’ve used a little backup, but it was just me. With her. Fumbling for something to say that wouldn’t sound completely insane to her human ears.

“Well?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“You’re impatient.”

“I’ve been waiting to hear this.”

“It’s not an easy thing to explain.”

She leaned back against the pillows with a sigh. “So there is something off here. I knew it. I kept trying to tell myself not to let my imagination run away with me.”

“I’ve found that gut instincts are generally spot-on. What do your instincts tell you about me? Just me, as a person.”

Her face flushed, though she didn’t look away. “That I can trust you.”

“Thank you for that.” I would need her trust in a moment. “And you’re right. You can. Believe it when I tell you what I’m about to.”

“All right,” she whispered, shoulders squaring as though she were readying herself to take on a burden.

“You see…” Where to start?

I went to the doors leading outside and opened them, allowing a breeze to blow in and stir the stale air. It looked as though a storm was about to come in—dark clouds loomed on the horizon. I kept an eye on them as I continued, as though I needed something to focus on in order to keep going.

“There are so many things in this world of which I’d bet you’re unaware.”

“Such as?”

“There’s magic in the world, for one. Did you know that?”

“Magic? Actual, honest-to-God magic?”

I didn’t need to look at her to know she was smirking in disbelief. Likely wondering just who she was talking to, or how stupid I thought she was if I were willing to feed her a line like that.

“What you would call magic. We don’t. It’s everyday life to us.”

“All right…”

I was losing credibility, fast.

“How do you think I managed to rescue you?” I asked, turning my face to the side to catch a glimpse of her.

She frowned. “You told me how.”

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