Chapter 0241
My lip starts to tremble as I listen, tears again stinging my eyes, but Jesse leans forward.

“Rafe,” he murmurs, glancing between us. “Slow down a little, man. I mean, if we’re aware of what they’re feeling, then she’s aware of it double – she can feel it all down their bonds. And that, on top of her own feelings?” He shakes his head, holding Rafe’s gaze, willing him to listen.

Rafe takes a deep breath and sighs, pushing his cake around on his plate, clearly thinking it through. In the end, though, he looks up at me. “Can you seriously feel everything they feel?”

“Not everything,” I murmur, my voice tight as I look down at my plate. “Not unless the emotion is really intense, or they send it to me deliberately. And not…across great distances. Only when they’re nearby, or in the room. Like I can’t feel them now.”

“Weird,” he murmurs, quietly eating his cake as he puts his thoughts together for a second. Jesse does the same.

After a long moment, Rafe breaks the silence.

“I just wish, Ariel,” he murmurs, truly hurt, “that you’d trusted me enough to let me know. I’d have told you, after all.”