X shook his head. "No, I couldn't have. I know everything about you. It's only fair that I return the favour."

It was a decision X didn't even realise he'd made, but nevertheless, he'd made it. If he didn't think too hard about what Valdis was like before she got her emotions back, before she got her soul back, then he could easily answer all of her questions with full honesty. It wouldn't be the first time he'd trusted someone who was a member of a police force -- and this time, he had more to go on.

"Both," X answered, trying to hold the position Valdis put him in, frowning in concentration. It felt both completely familiar and utterly foreign. "It's a misconception, in my world. Someone published a theory that readers read other people constantly, and that's how we know the moment someone wants to kill us. But that's not true." He exhaled, a little amused. "I'd go mad. It's not just people, it's anything. Poison, weather, magic, accident. The moment my life's threatened, I go into that trance."