~ CASIMIR ~
It was only the first step to reassure her, but her breath caught, and I almost stumbled and for a moment everything in me screamed to flee from her. Because I'd opened my mind to her in a way I'd never given to anyone. Ever.
I had learned very young in life how to guard my thoughts.
My father had used his power in my early years, tearing through walls with the sledgehammer of his power, revealing me against my will. But it had done exactly what he'd intended for it to do-taught me to build steel walls around my mind.
By the time I was sixteen he struggled to break through my barriers.
By eighteen he could compel my body, but struggled to access my deepest mind.
And since his death, there were parts of me that had never seen light. Even I avoided them.
But as I'd thought about this night, about how I might help her feel safe, about what it would take to prove myself, I'd known there was no other answer.
