I explained, as best I could, what I'd lived with my entire life, from childhood. The empathic field and all its stress, the pressure I lived under, the impact of the feelings of others. How Kael had learned of it, Daphne, too, used it as a weapon against me, though I was certain they, even, didn't understand the depth of what it meant to me.

How it hurt me.

Nero was the least surprised, if only by the initial reveal. "I've always known your emotions were far too close ...