“I don’t know.” He drew his thumb across my cheekbone, his caress warm and far too welcome. “But I can help you. That’s all we want to do.”
“Help me how?”
“By teaching you.” His fingers slid into my hair, threading through my tangling blonde strands and drawing them down to my shoulder. “Control is the only way to live with all that power inside of you. I realize you have no reason to trust me, or any of us, but I’m speaking from experience. If you don’t allow anyone to train you, those gifts will consume you beyond reason.”
I’d always been one to listen to my instincts, and they told me now that he was speaking the truth. Still, something nagged at me. Not about him, or Exos, or even the other boy, but about this place. This realm.
It felt as if I didn’t belong. Which was likely related to having been brought here without my permission.
But it went beyond that.
Something about this place seemed dangerous.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, his tone genuine and curious. “What caused this frown to form?” He pressed his thumb to the edge of my mouth, his comfort with touching me a little unsettling even while feeling right.
We don’t know each other.
But I sort of want to know him.
I shook the thoughts from my head, confused by all the sensations and sounds and sparks. “This is all, uh, overwhelming.” Not a lie. I just left out the sense-of-danger part. How could I confide that in an essential stranger? In this strange land?
“How about dinner,” he suggested.
“Dinner?” I repeated, dubious.
“When’s the last time you ate?”
“Uh…” I blinked several times. “I… I don’t know.”
“Then I’d say dinner is a must.” His dimples appeared again, but rather than turn his features boyish, they only seemed to solidify his incredible beauty. “Then maybe we can tour campus together. It’ll be quiet, most of the students in their dorms. Maybe you’ll see that it isn’t too bad here and decide to stay.”
Campus? Dorms? Where am I? “Do I even have a choice?” I wondered out loud, referring to dinner and the aforementioned tour.
He chuckled. “Depends on your definition of the word. How about we reach that bridge when we’re ready to cross it and just take this one step at a time? Dinner first. And I’ll answer any and every question you throw at me.”
I nibbled my lower lip, considering his proposal. He was right about the choice. Did I truly have one when there were no other options?
“Can I, uh, change first?” I asked, noting my soiled state. A long shower sounded appealing. And then maybe some coffee followed by a decent meal.
“Exos can help us arrange that,” he said, smiling.
“Exos,” I repeated, glancing at the still-emotionless male across the clearing. “Uh, will he be going to dinner, too?”
The man cocked a brow at that, clearly having heard me even from a distance. Which meant he’d heard everything. “Would you prefer I not join you?” he asked, sounding slightly offended.
“Depends on whether or not you’re going to be an ass,” I said, feeling oddly defensive. He hadn’t exactly broken all these details to me in the politest manner, and it was his fault I ended up here. And while I was on that path, I could also lay some of the blame for the bar at his feet because he’d been the one to entice me into that kiss.
No, that wasn’t fair.
I couldn’t blame him for everything. Only a coward would deny all culpability.
But that didn’t mean I had to like him.
He snorted as if hearing my thoughts, or perhaps reading them on my face. “Whatever you want, princess,” he said. “Just don’t fucking blow me into a wall again.”
I winced a little at that, feeling bad again. It wasn’t like I meant to shove him with my power; it just sort of happened.
“Can we go now?” he asked, his gaze going to Titus. “Because I’ve had the day from hell and would love a shower.”