“No, they won’t hear it from me. Come on—the seven families?”
I looked at him almost pleadingly, but he looked so stern and diplomatic that I nearly convinced myself I wasn’t going to get much more than what Alexander decided was necessary and sufficient. It’s hard to put into words why I suddenly wanted to know more; I didn’t even understand myself. I think that once the initial fright had passed, all that remained in me was a ravenous curiosity and the desire to know, the anxiety to try to understand. I had opened the door by deciphering his name and his true identity. I had already told him—how many times would someone ever be in my place? And I, of all the people in the world, wanted to understand him. To know them. The first step to losing fear is to know everything about the thing t
