Page 24 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
He didn’t respond for a long time, but finally he huffed. “I don’t know what that is.”
That didn’t really surprise me. Nulls were rarer than empaths, rarer even than necromancers. “I naturally counteract any magic. That’s why when I touch you, you can’t feel or hear others’ emotions anymore.”
“I’ve never heard of that before.”
I nodded. “I’m not surprised. I don’t think anyone in the magical community wants to admit we exist. Having someone who can’t be affected by magic isn’t something they want getting around. Otherwise, we’d be sought after to break wards, protect against magical attacks, and things like that.”
Without letting my hand drop, he turned his head so his temple rested on his knee, and he squinted at me. “That makes sense, but… that means this is like a huge secret, right?”
I nodded. “Yes. But I trust you. I know you won’t tell anyone.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “Why in the world would you trust me? We barely know each other.”
I supposed that was true, but I felt like I knew him. At the very least, I knew what type of person he was, and he wasn’t the type to go around telling people my secrets. “That may be true, but… I feel like I know you.” I shrugged. It was true, and I had noidea how to explain that. I was following my gut yet again, and praying I wouldn’t regret it in the future.
He stared again, but finally, he whispered, “I feel like I know you too.”
That made me grin.
To my surprise, he smiled and poked me in the side. “Wipe that smug smirk off your face.”
My smug smirk only grew. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He snorted, then squeezed his eyes shut with a tiny groan of pain.
“Let me get you home and in a dark room. Since I was able to stop everything, you should recover faster than usual, but you still need to take a nap.”
His eyes were closed as he spoke. “How do you know so much about empaths?”
“My mother was an empath.”
His eyes flew open. “Really?”
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s how we figured out what I am.” I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. “I’m going to remove my hand now so I can drive. Are you gonna be okay?”
He nodded. “Yep. I’m fine.” That wasn’t true at all, but I took a breath and released his neck.
He didn’t tense up, so I figured he was through the worst of it, so I put the car back in drive and headed for his house.
Chapter Eight
Winter
Miles could easily walk on his own, but I wanted to help him, and touching him would help soothe the ache away. So after I parked in his driveway, I got out and rushed to the passenger’s side. He was just opening the door when I got there, and he gave me a look when I reached for him, but that didn’t stop me.
And he didn’t ask me to stop, so I didn’t.
I hesitated for only a moment because I really wanted to carry him, but I figured that’d be taking it a step too far for the proudman. So instead, I threw his arm over my shoulders and took some of his weight as we made our way into his house.
An orange tabby cat rushed down the stairs, meowing loudly to greet us, and I couldn’t help but smile. I loved all animals, including loud little hellions.
“Hey there,” I said to the cutie, then asked Miles, “You said his name’s Odin?”
“Mhm.” Miles had his eyes closed.
“Do you want to go up to your bedroom to lie down, or would you rather sit on the couch?”
“Mm.” He grunted. “Want the couch, need the bedroom.”
