Mia's mind raced through a dozen answers and rejected every one of them before they reached her mouth. *A dream. Instinct. A story my grandmother told me.* All of it was true in its own crooked way, and none of it was the truth he was actually asking for.
"I can't tell you that," she said finally. "Not tonight. Maybe not for a long time."
Something in Kade's face tightened, and for a moment she braced for anger, for the composed mask slamming back down between them, for the trust she'd spent three weeks building to collapse under the weight of a question she wasn't brave enough to answer.
"Can't," he said slowly, "or won't."
"Both. Neither. I don't know how to explain it in a way that doesn't sound insane, Kade, and I need you to trust the parts of this I can prove before I ask you to
