The wind picks up. My hair whips across my face and I shove it back.
"So stop looking at me like that."
…
"No, I don't know why she makes everything quiet. I don't know why I can't stay away from her. I don't know why my chest feels like it's—"
I stop.
"It doesn't mean anything. It can't mean anything. She's human, Elyr. Fragile. Temporary. And I'm—"
A Titan wearing a god's face.
"Drop it."
…
"I don't care if it's dangerous. I don't care if it breaks something. I don't care about anything except—"
"Drop it."
…
She's not dropping it. She's just watching me with that look she always had when she knew I was lying to myself.
Fine. I don't have to keep talking about it.
Iowyn.
I say it out loud. Just to feel it in my mouth.
"Iowyn."
Again. Lower.
"Iowyn."
"She looked at me after. When I pulled back. She looked at me like she was trying to figure out why I stopped. Like she expected me to takemore. Like she would have let me."
My hand tightens on the blade.
"She would have let me, Elyr. And I—"
…
The wind dies. The city goes still. Everything goes still except my pulse hammering in my ears and the blade against my legs.
"I want her to let me. I want her to choose it. Not because she's learned that compliance is safer. Not because powerful men take what they want and she knows better than to fight. I want her to choose me. Because she wants to."
…
"I don't know if she can. I don't know if anyone can want me without fear attached. But I—"
Órhal.
My breath catches. My hand goes still on the blade.
The reason I continue.
