“Enough of all this Caspian talk,” David finally said, taking his seat beside me. “Kai. Kai.”

I flinched when his fingers tapped the back of my hand. “Is something wrong? What the hell is going on?”

“Nothing,” I managed to say with a forced smile.

“Don’t give me that.” His voice was sharp, but his eyes were soft. That was the thing about David; he could scold you and care about you in the same breath. “That smile doesn’t reach your eyes. Something is wrong.”

He leaned forward, studying me the way a doctor studies a patient he already knows is sick. “You’re sweating, and we’re sitting directly under an...