Chapter 60

He sighed and looked down for a moment at my hand on his arm. “Our race is faithful to its principles, and a child like him has a lot of willpower. I thank God for this; it has prevented him from collapsing like what almost happened to me.”

Only then did I realize that my hand was still squeezing Ivan’s arm, and a little heat rose to my cheeks. I wasn’t supposed to do those things, that we were trying not to give each other the wrong signals. That I was trying not to give him the wrong signals, rather, because he could read my reactions (and smell them), and I couldn’t interpret his beyond what he showed me. I took a step away and threw the badly folded sweater into the suitcase.

I closed it and took my warm clothes to go to the bathroom and change. I didn’t say anything else as I left, and I don’t know if Ivan expected me to respond to his statement; I just walked out. I guess if I had told him, he would have understood that I wouldn’t have wanted to lose those k