Trent leaned forward, closing the distance between us. I froze as he reached up and brushed his finger tips along the edge of my jaw, “Jess, can I…can I kiss you?”

My mouth fell open a little, heart constricting in my chest. Did I want to kiss him? Part of me was undeniably attracted to him, but another part, the part of me that felt overwhelmed by everything that had happened today, just wanted to roll over and go to sleep.

Trent blinked at me, and his hand fell away, “don’t answer yet, it’s okay. I don’t want to pressure you into anything. I’m not...I don’t ever want to be that guy.”

Something about him, his eyes as he looked into mine, made me want to take my hesitation back, to lean forward and press my lips to his. Instead I just smiled at him, “I don’t think you could be. You’re…sweet.”

He ducked his head, looking embarrassed, “I know some guys are jerks. I just try not to be.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job,” I shifted on the bed, feeling a little awkward. It was a relief when he stood up, “I think I’ll let you get some sleep. In the morning, the bathroom is at the end of the hall, take as long as you need to get ready, Kari…I mean, your mom, she put some clothes in the closet for you, a couple different choices of outfits. After you’re all cleaned up you can come downstairs, we always have a big breakfast with everyone in the morning.”

“Thank you,” I stood up, giving him another hesitant smile, “listen, Trent. Thank you for everything, I mean, this has all been shocking, but you’ve been…you’ve been great.” I was hyper aware of how close we were standing now, he was a head or so taller than me, and suddenly I wanted to tilt my head back and have him kiss me, like they did in the movies. What a ridiculous thought.

“Trent…” I fumbled for words, and he reached out and brushed his fingers across my wrist. This time, instead of tingles, his physical touch was like a blow. His fingers felt hot, and a warming sensation hit me in the chest and spread outwards, down both arm. The sensation hit me head on, it felt like the room was revolving slowly around me. The only steady thing was Trent, and when I looked into his dark eyes the sensation hit me even harder, making me gasp, fingers curling helplessly around his. It was connection, I could feel the breath moving through his body, his heart beat matched mine. I could feel his thoughts, the path they took. He was thinking about me.

What the hell? I jerked my hand back so fast I nearly pitched backwards. Trent and I broke apart. He stared at me, brown eyes wide, chest heaving.

My voice came out in a stutter, “what…what was that? What just happened?”

To my surprise, Trent groaned, rubbing his hand over his eyes. A pang hit me. Had I hurt him in some way? Had that thing…whatever it was, come from me?

“Are you alright?” My voice was trembling.

“I’m okay, it’s okay…” he drew his hand away, still breathing heavily, “she was going to warn you….I didn’t think. Oh god, she’s going to be so mad…”

“What? Who?” I stumbled back another step, sitting down hard on the bed. It felt like I’d just run a mile, all my energy had been drained by whatever that was, “what was that? What happened?”

“Oh geeze,” Trent was pushing his fingers through his long hair, pacing back and forth across the floor, “crap, I’m in so much trouble…”

“With who?” I cried, frustration making my voice sharp, “who’ll be mad and why?”

“Your mother,” Trent stopped, eyes searching my face. His expression was serious, “she wanted to tell you herself. She was going to wait until later, so you weren’t overloading on information. This was really bad timing,” again he yanked at this hair, stress creasing his face, “oh man, I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to her.”

“Explain what? What was that?”

He sighed, “Sorry, sorry. You deserve an explanation, I know. But still, maybe you can tell your mother I…I didn’t mean to. That was really stupid of me.” He stopped pacing and took a deep breath, “what you…we, I mean…what we just felt was called the link.”

“The link,” I repeated, “so what, it’s a jotun thing?”

“Sort of…” he hesitated, “well, yes and no. It’s more complicated than that. It’s a genetic trait that allows two jotun to link to one another and join their power. But it’s rare, only a select few in the royal line of fire jotun have it. Your mother thought there was a chance you might have it, she was going to test you…later. When you were more settled in.”

“Why did she think I might have it? Does she…have the link I mean?”

He shook his head, “no, but when the frost giants…well, when the royal guards were sent after you. We figured that maybe they were going to try to grab you and test for the link. Try to use you, you know?”

“Wait, the royal guard? Like…that Asher guy, he was a royal guard?”

“Yup, that jerk is from the royal family, believe it or not. All of the royal guard is.” Trent took a step toward the bed, almost sagging forward onto it, and I realized he must be just as exhausted as I was.

“So this…link. My mom…Kari I mean, she knew I might have it and that’s why she rescued me? So I couldn’t be used against her?” I narrowed my eyes at him, “is that why?”

Trent was silent for a minute, “I don’t think that’s why, Jess. I know it sounds bad, but I don’t think that’s the reason. I think your mother realized that if that were true…that if you had the link, you would be able to protect yourself. She would be able to come for you, and be close to you, without getting you killed. She doesn’t have to be afraid for you anymore.”

I was silent for a moment, mulling this over. Did I really buy that? Clearly Trent trusted her, and I think…I think I trusted Trent. The thoughts I’d got from him, they seemed nothing but passion and light when he was looking at me. They weren’t the thoughts of an evil person. At least, that’s the way it seemed. It wasn’t as thought I’d read minds before, so I had nothing to compare it to.

“I’m sorry you found out that way,” Trent said, “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay,” I murmured. My brain was doing circles again, like a hamster on a wheel. It was starting to get exhausting.

“Look, I should let you get some sleep. Kari can answer all your questions tomorrow,” he folded his hands in prayer, “but please tell her I didn’t mean to. She’ll want to strangle me with her bare hands if she finds out what really happened…” he hesitated, “you know…motherly protection instinct and all.”

“Well that must be a new one for her,” I snapped, then relented at the look on his face, “alright, I’ll tell her it wasn’t your fault.”

He sighed and nodded, “alright, I’ll let you get to bed. See you at breakfast?”

I shuffled my feet without looking at him, “yes, that sounds good. Thanks.”

Footsteps, and then a gentle click as he shut the door behind him, and Trent was gone. Finally I was alone, staring around at the little room. Was this going to be my room from now on? I tried to imagine myself staying here, in this house full of strangers. Would they become my family, would I start calling the woman who looked so much like me “mom”? I wasn’t sure if the thought gave me the warm tingles or the heeby jeebies. It sucked not really knowing what I wanted in the first place. How was I supposed to sort out the complete mess that was my brain when I didn’t even know what I wanted?

Sighing, I shuffled over to the chest of drawers in the corner of the room, still feeling completely drained of energy. When I jerked the top drawer open I was surprised to see a number of lacy night gowns and a few over-large cotton t-shirts. Not being the lace type, I grabbed one of the t-shirts, a dark blue men’s size shirt with the name of some sports team on the front. Shrugging out of my dirty sweat-shirt and blue jeans I slipped the blue shirt over my head. It came down to my knees, and I paused to think about where the shirt had come from, remembering the hulking Teddy, or the tall lanky Dave. Was this one of their t-shirts? I tried to push away the thought, not really liking the idea of either of them. Briefly I entertained the idea that it might be Trent’s shirt. That was certainly more appealing. For a second I allowed myself to run my fingers over the cotton, feeling the fabric on my skin. Trent. Please let this be Trent’s shirt. Then I yanked my hand away. Now wasn’t the time to be developing crushes. Right now there were more pressing matters to be mulled over, more pressing then the way Trent had smelled, like irish spring soap when he’d come close, more pressing than the way he’d looked at me, than how his thoughts had flowed into mine and spread warmth through me….

Damn. This has to stop.

Folding the bed sheets back I slipped between them, enjoying the cool sensation on my bare legs. Finally I let myself lie back and shut my eyes, thoughts still rushing by in a constant buzz. Too many things to think about to relax. So I lay there for what seemed like ages, thinking in the dark, thoughts crowding in, suffocating.