Page 79 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Zaiana rolled her eyes, getting to her feet with disinclination.

The male stood cross-armed, always keeping his face shadowed by a hood that she thought was enhanced with darkness by his command.

“You’re really not what I expected,” he said, almost like a slipped thought he’d been guarding since their last meeting.

Zaiana grew defensive. “What did you expect?”

“That you’d be fighting me with vicious aggression, not juvenile reluctance.”

“I guess I don’t have much vicious aggression left to spare by the time you get your turn of me in here.”

“Truthfully, I’m glad whatever you’re doing out there is exhausting you enough to let slip the mask.”

“It’s not a mask,” she bit out.

If she had a face for him, she imagined a hooked brow that would say,I don’t believe you.

Zaiana didn’t care what her irritating dream phantom thought. Once they both had what they wanted, she would be able to block him out for good and forget about him.

“All you’ve done is observe and state the obvious,” she said. “It’s grating on my nerves.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out where to begin, actually. Your mind is one of the most twisted and guarded I’ve ever come across.”

“Good to know,” she mumbled.

“Everyone has their own demons,” he explained. “Parts of the mind that are like a plague. When I said it was rare to see a colorless mind, this is why. Usually, the parts of the mind that fight itself and inflict self-harm are like dark spots. They can grow and linger for periods of time and then shrink back—they never fully fade. But yours…it’s taken over entirely. So many dark spots have merged into one.”

His tone became distant, personal.

“This is too much,” she said quickly. She couldn’t stand the crawling of her skin at everything he was observing,assuming.

He didn’t know her. He couldn’t help her. No one could.

“You should leave.”

“Why? So you can continue to deny you need help?”

“I don’t need anything from you. Or from anyone.”

“I think we should start with a memory?—”

“No.” Her chest rose and feel deeply. “This was a mistake.”

“Zaiana.” He spoke her name so gently she could hardly bear it. “There is no one else here. No one who needs to know about any of it.”

He would know. If she let him in, she couldn’t forget he was a real person out there. Someone who could be using her and finding things in here that could destroy her.

“What if we start with me then?” he tried, so patient and calm when she was ready to do what it took to harness the storm around them and strike him with it to keep her thoughts safe.

“Are we traveling to your mind—is that possible?”

He chuckled lightly. “No, and…perhaps. I’ve never tried to switch minds with another Nightwalker before, actually.” His hood tilted with curiosity before straightening again. “What if I give you something first?”

“Like a name?”

“No. How about a memory for a memory?”

Zaiana contemplated. It would be a clue to figuring him out—perhaps something she could have against him to track him down if he crossed her.

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