Tears filled my eyes. "I have to be able to live with myself."

All pretense of this being hypothetical was gone.

We stood, mere feet apart, but the endless void back in the grove hadn't been this vast.

I pulled myself together by the skin of my teeth. "I'll let you get back."

She nodded, her expression unreadable, but didn't stop me.

My drive home was a blur.

Priya was out with Kai, the human Cheez Whiz that she was dating, when I got ...