I remember Kieran looking me right in the eye before lowering his head to kiss Nova, and I remember the bite on her neck.
The sharp agony from that moment rises inside me, which is when I realize it wasn't just pain I was feeling back then but anger too. Rage.
That's when I begin to understand this other side of my gift isn't as new as I thought, and that I was on my way to hitting Kieran and Nova with my emotions.
"Cassia, love?"
I shake my head until I'm no longer in the past with Kieran and Nova, but back in the present with Lucian, beside a gentle stream, and a picnic lunch he packed for us so we could be alone.
"I'm okay." I smile.
His eyes, deep with concern, tell me he doesn't believe me.
It isn't until he brushes a tear from under my eye that I realize why he wouldn't. "I wish I could take all your pain from you," he says in a sober voice. "I think, even if you told me not to, I'd do it anyway because I never want you to be in pain."
