It certainly said something that she looked as confused as he felt, as she broke away. If it was some sort of magical compulsion, that would go a long way towards explaining... All of this.

"It was-" He first hastened to reassure her, lips still humming, heart still thumping. He felt he'd been jumped in the best sense of the word, and his senses were all that heady brainstem jumble of fight/flight reconciling. But Vax stopped and forced himself to calm down, thinking how important it was to choose his words carefully. "You are lovely," he looked to try and find her averted eyes with his, though he was careful not to touch her. "But I hadn't got any sense that you'd been interested. If this is what's happening to everyone..."