being that sort of vacation,” Hardwick said before he could stop himself.
“Hah!” Another surprise. Hardwick had barely even gotten started reprimanding himself when Delphine let out a bark of laughter. Her fingers shook. When she smoothed them across his forehead, it was as though she was trying to smooth out her own chuckles as well. “Close your eyes,” she said, and he did.
His griffin tapped its beak, staring sadly at the darkness behind his eyelids. Hardwick relaxed into the sensation of Delphine’s hands on him. He left his griffin pining, and, almost feeling guilty, checked on the light of the mate-bond in his heart.
It didn’t flare, or sparkle, or anything else dramatic. But its glow was stronger. It barely flickered at all as he watched it.
It will hurt more later, he reminded himself. There were too many complications. He’d meant what he said about everyone thinking they had a reason for lying. It didn’t matter how much his heart glowed for Delphine; he couldn’t do this now. He couldn’t afford the time it would take him to unravel her reasons. Not when every attempt would turn into the migraine from hell.
He knew he was an asshole when his head started playing up. Better he not say anything than dig too deep and lash out at her when his investigation only got him more lies.
“One more thing…” Delphine rested her fingertips on his forehead, just above his eyebrows. “It doesn’t hurt you when I lie. Does it.”
Not a question. A statement.
A knife to the center of his forehead.
Chapter Fifteen
Delphine
The moment she lied, Hardwick flinched. The tension she’d eased from his forehead slammed back. If she had her hands on his neck or shoulders, she was sure she would have felt the knots she’d worked so hard to get rid of come back with a vengeance.
And she hated herself for it.
She’d needed to know, she told herself. If she was going to figure out what was going on with him, and help him, she needed proof that he couldn’t just sense lies. They hurt him.
She’d hurt him.
She’d been hurting him since the moment she woke up.
Her lungs suddenly couldn’t fill properly. She stepped back and her hands clenched into fists. She was horrified—at herself, at everything she’d so casually lied to him about, at the cruel test she’d just put him through. And that horror turned into anger.
How dare he not tell her that she was hurting him. They were stuck out here together, in the middle of nowhere. He’d saved her life. She had wanted to find some way of making the situation less awkward and awful for the both of them, and his plan had been to sit there for as long as they were stuck together, and let her hurt him?
What sort of a person did that?
Her chest felt as though it was about to burst. Hardwick swung his legs around and stood up. He wasn’t moving as though every action made his head throb anymore—he was all controlled strength and wary grace. So compelling her mouth went dry. She wanted—she wanted—
“What the hell was that?” he growled. The look on his face wasn’t angry, though. He looked betrayed.
Her heart twisted.
“What was that?” she replied. She wasn’t even angry at him, she told herself as her voice turned into a snarl. She was angry at herself. At her grandparents. At this whole twisted, horrible world. “What about telling me the truth?”
He flinched back. Surprise, not pain. “The truth?”
“Your powers. You don’t just sense lies, do you? They hurt you. I’ve been hurting you.”
Hardwick ran one hand over his mouth. She couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. “You’re right.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It wasn’t important—”
“We’re stuck out here together, and it wasn’t important?” She clutched her head, then her chest, not knowing what she was doing. “You’re not just here for a vacation, you’re—you’re detoxing.”
He nodded.
“And I’m about as tox as it gets.”
All her rage faded away, so quickly she still didn’t know who or what it had been aimed at.
“In that case, I’m even sorrier that you’ve been landed with me,” she muttered.
“I thought you deserved a break.”
She shot him a confused look. “A break from what?”
“You said your family would be happier if you didn’t get in touch.” Hardwick’s voice was low and even. He sounded as though he was reading off of notes. She wondered if this was the voice he used in his job, trying to get suspects to admit their stories weren’t straight. “If