His heart ached at the pain in her eyes, and he reached for her. "The gods do not make mistakes."
"Well, they did this time!" She shoved at his chest with small hands. "Look at my life! Everyone I love gets hurt. Everyone I get close to dies or ends up broken. I'm doing this for you. I have to leave to save you."
She fought to pull away, but he held on, hard hands capturing her upper arms. "Then I'm coming with you."
She stopped fighting and stared up at him, her mouth falling open. "What?"
"If you get on that transport," he said, his voice steady, absolute, "I am getting on it with you. We will go to Earth. We will live in your poverty. I will work whatever job I can find. I do not care."
"You… you can't." She sounded horrified. "You're a War-Commander. This is your life. You can't just throw it away."
"None of it means anything without you."
"You're crazy," she shook her head. "You don't even know me. You know the version of me that holds it together. You don't know what’s underneath. You don't know?—"
He cut her off. "You were twelve and in the backseat. You were trapped for three hours."
She went still, eyes wide.
"I read the file,” he carried on. He wouldn't let her hide in the dark anymore. He'd drag every secret into the light. "Your parents died on impact. You were trapped until they cut you out."
Her face drained of color. "How?"
"I requested your records."
"That's private," she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "You had no right."
"I will use anything to protect you. Even if it means invading your privacy. Even if it means you hate me for it." He let go of her arms to frame her face, his thumbs brushing away the tears. "You think you caused that crash?"
"I survived." Tears that broke his heart rolled down her cheeks. "Why did I survive?"
"Because you are strong. Because life is random and cruel, and sometimes the best of us pay the price for it. That is not a curse, kelarris. That is survival."
"My guardians?—"
"Died of old age and heart failure," he told her firmly. "Natural causes. Not a curse. Not you."
"Delilah is lying in a bed with her brain rewiring itself!"
"Because she took the credits and rented a flyer instead of waiting for pickup," Kirr said firmly. "She is an adult. She made a choice. You can't carry that, kelarris. Not all of it. Not alone."
"I have to try," she whispered, her legs buckling.
He caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist and hauling her up against him. She buried her face against him, sobbing like something had finally cracked open.
"You are not poison," he murmured into her hair. "You are exhausted. You have been carrying the weight of the world since you were a child, and you think that if you set it down, everyone will die. They won't."
She shook her head against his sternum. "But I'm so broken, Kirr. I'm so messed up."
"I do not want perfection." He pulled her closer. "I have enough perfection. I have a perfect ship, a perfect record, a perfect career. It is cold, and it is lonely. I want you. I want your broken pieces and your stubborn, foolish need to save everyone but yourself."
She looked up at him, eyes red-rimmed and swollen, something fragile and terrified flickering in their depths. "Why?"
"Because I love you."
The words hung in the air between them. He hadn't planned to say them. He hadn't known they were true until the moment he thought she was gone. But now they were out, undeniable as the marks on his skin.
"I love you," he repeated, louder this time. "That's why I'm here." His grip tightened. "I cannot let you go."
