Hæra would not shift about in the chair. She’d learned that was a gesture of restlessness that gave away more than she intended. “So?”

“I don’t mean to pry,” said Jonathan, prying. “Just wondering if it works differently for you—love, that is. Most humans can’t fall that fast, but is that the same for you and him?”

Fall in love? Hæra looked at him, dumbstruck.

She knew, conceptually, what he meant. Humans formed emotional bonds with each other before they mated. It was part of the species’ preservation. They could get very passionate about sexual coupling.

Each-uisge knew no such passion except during mating season, when mares went into heat. Their real delight was in the frenzy of the hunt, riding the currents, or tearing into a rival.

Her current body was different, though. For all that it wasn’t truly human, it had responded…strongly…to Sister Madeleine lying beneath it. When she’d touched Sister Madeleine’s mouth with her own—a “kiss,” she knew now—she’d felt a hungry pulse between her thighs. Was that what Jonathan meant?

He said, “I just don’t know what to make of the look in your eyes when we talk of her. As if there’s nothing else in the world.”

Hæra’s face grew as hot as the unwelcome fire.

“I don’t judge,” Jonathan said quickly. “I, er, might if you didn’t take on this body right here. But you’re learning to read and act like us. God knows I’m no romantic, but I can’t work out what else it means, and…”

Hæra stood so quickly that her chair toppled backward, and Jonathan cut himself off, looking startled.

She glared down at him, teeth bared at his effrontery. Implying that she would ever…

Just imagine what her father would say to that. It would serve this human right for Hæra to tear him to pieces here and now. How dare he speak such lies, presuming something that couldn’t possibly be right?

Instead of looking properly terrified, Jonathan narrowed his eyes. “What’s all this, then?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snarled. “Do you think I’d stoop to that sort of connection with your kind?”

“What are you doing, then?” Jonathan asked, sounding as if he didn’t believe her. “You saved her life, and now you want to see her again. And truth to tell, I don’t think she’s the only reason you come here of nights.”

Blood roared in her human ears. “Are you joking? Why else would I come?”

“Because you’re lonely.” Jonathan stood up. Shorter than Hæra, and weaker too. “Because you want a friend.”