Read Patient Darkness: Brooding City Series Book 2 for Free Online

few seconds later, he broke the hug and held her at arm’s length. “Your hair,” he said. “You’ve done something to it.”
    Alex grinned. “More like I haven’t done something to it. I decided to forgo the dye this time.”
    It looks nice, James thought, smiling down at her. He knew about her power as surely as she knew about his; it made for interesting conversations, her talking and him thinking.
    “Thank you,” she said. “I’m still considering a change, but we’ll see.”
    Shall we eat?
    Alex nodded, and she took a seat next to her father at one end of the table. Kern, ever silent, carried out two trays laden with fruit slices and sandwich wedges and set them down before retreating to the kitchen. A moment later, he returned with a silver carafe. Ice clinked as Kern poured a glass of spring water for each of them.
    James lifted his glass, and Alex mirrored him. “To family,” he toasted.
    “To family.” Their glasses connected with a chime that was swallowed quickly in the silence of the grand room. Alex nibbled on one half of a sandwich and watched herself through her father’s eyes. She looked good; beautiful, even, with the sunlight silhouetting her. There were lines in her face, though, that were unfamiliar and unwanted. Not for the first time, she envied her father’s power. She was grateful that he couldn’t hear her thoughts at that moment. James Brüding had not raised his daughter to be weak, and jealousy made all men—and women—weak.
    “What’s on your mind?” her father asked aloud.
    Alex stopped channeling his thoughts and looked with her own eyes. He was watching her closely. Her father had always had an intense curiosity about him, an acute awareness of and interest in everything around him. He could tell something was bothering her without being psychic.
    “It’s this guy I’m seeing,” she said.
    “Is he giving you a hard time?”
    She shook her head. “No, nothing like that. He’s actually really sweet. We met a few weeks ago, and he has been nothing but a gentleman to me. But in spite of all that…there’s no connection. I don’t feel anything for him.”
    “You just met him,” he said. “Give it time to develop.”
    Alex frowned. “I’ve given it time,” she groaned. “How long does it take for humans to develop feelings for each other?”
    James glanced around the room, but it seemed that Kern had made himself scarce. Alex’s father looked at her steadily, and she could sense him carefully arranging and protecting his thoughts. “I can’t promise that it will ever happen,” he said. “When your mother and I first met, we butted heads all the time. There wasn’t a single thing we could agree on. One day, something just clicked, and everything fell into place.”
    “Yes, but you two are normal !” Alex protested. She sat back in her chair with her arms crossed. She didn’t meet his eyes when she spoke. “What happens if I never know love? What kind of person doesn’t love ?”
    I love you , her father replied. I’ve always known exactly the kind of person you are, and I know the woman you’ll grow into. And we love you.
    We , she thought. He’d said “we.” It was as good a subject as any, just so long as the focus wasn’t on herself. “How is she?” Alex asked.
    James’s eyes crinkled slightly, but otherwise he showed no reaction to the change in conversation. “Your mother is doing fine. She has good days and bad days,” he said, reaching for a sandwich wedge. He briefly held it in his hands, considering it, before tearing it roughly down the middle. “Today is a bad day.”
    “Can I see her?”
    Her father hemmed and hawed momentarily. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea. She has been in a lot of pain recently, and the doctor recently increased the dosage of her medication.”
    “She’s going to get better, though, right? It comes and goes.”
    “We can always hope.” It didn’t sound like her father was holding on