“And, I’d really rather not,” he added.
He didn’t want to end me. Good news there. Three seconds felt more like three minutes as we stayed locked in place before he liberated my face and crossed the room to the door. Before exiting, he turned. All traces of the moment had flown. “Get yourself ready. We have an appointment to keep. You will be culling today.” He closed the door gently behind him.
I let my breath out, not even realizing I’d been holding it.
“I’m really not hungry.” My highly odd morning continued on the path to getting weirder as the next hour found me sitting across from Gideon at a neighborhood diner, with plans for pancakes. I still felt too ill for any food to be sitting in my stomach.
“Nonsense. You need to eat.” Gideon pushed a menu closer to me.
“I feel kind of s
