SHAYN COULD BARELY hold himself together as Dr. Pitner came back into the garden and greeted him with an apology for taking so long. Had it really been more than an hour? His time with his denya had gone by so fast he was sure only a few minutes had passed. Why had she run off? She wasn’t dressed like one of the staff doctors, which suggested she was a patient. Was there a rule against patients interacting? Kissing?
He wanted to ask, but if she was nervous, it had to be for a reason, right? Not that he knew enough to make any assumptions about his denya, but she’d seemed put together enough. Though in that first moment she had stumbled and shivered, her eyes closed and mind somehow far away.
Was something wrong with her?
He’d come to Sola to see if he would die when he turned thirty, lu
