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"I’etting frustrated, but I was frustrated, too, with the sense that there was some truth just out of my reach "But you’re obviously not happy So why not leave? What keeps you here?" My rooed to escape "Your blood kin aren’t even on the island with you I don’t get it Why do you even stay?"

"A man must do as a man must do," he said mysteriously

"That didn’t stop Carden" I’d said it dis toRonan instead

"You are in over your head with that…him I’d think that you, Annelise, more than anyone would strive for better than what he offers you I tell you, a er, so quick and sharp, startledhis hand in the dirt atcloser "I a to see ould happen next

He raised his other hand, slid it around ? Was this a lesson? Had I offended hi afraid to touch a girl, and now he had so over h the hair at the back of er see his features clearly Only impressions of Ronan filled e of black lashes on lids half-closed Those features had once rocked h to convince er

And no Ronan was no longer a stranger He’d become so familiar to me Somehow, Ronan had becoiven ed for connection I missed my friends All of them, they’d been so dear to , steeped in desolation and uncertainty Carden had vanished My friends were lost to ht here

Would it be so bad, so wrong, to seek just a little bit of co He didn’t ? Was it more? I leaned closer, and he still didn’t an to pound All my fear and desolation and abandon this need I felt now Ronan was going to kisshis hypnotic touch, I’d take it I’d take him I just wanted to feel hi his powers This was just a touch--the touch of a guy on my skin

Then suddenly…cold air

I openedat aze so heavy and dark

"I can’t," he said His jaas tight, and it was like he had to grit out the words

And then he was gone

I stared after hi in the darkness Breathily, I asked the universe, "What the hell was that?"

I collapsed onto ers into my hair as I stared up at the sky My heart was still skittering in s

Holy crap

I guess I no longer reminded him of his sister

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I plopped onto the sand, panting for breath, clutching a hand at my side I hoped the pain was just a stitch fros of the blood fever

Okay, fine…so maybe it wasn’t as dire as all that