Cassiel froze, a shocked breath slipping from his lips. His hand dropped, and he looked away as if the words hurt him. She hoped it did. May they crush him the way his words had once crushed her.
The animosity behind the thought almost startled her. She was once the person who could easily forgive any fault or wrong done against her. But she could never forget what he did.
Herbodycouldn’t forget.
Cassiel’s voice had been in her mind as he held her down and erased everything they were, burned eternally in her memory like a wound that wouldn’t heal. It made her flinch whenever he neared, because that day had implanted a new fear that now plagued her.
The fear of being so utterly helpless again.
“You have nothing to fear from me, Dynalya…”
At the soft murmur of her name, she peered at him through her wet lashes. Cassiel had placed ample space between them, as if prepared to leave at her command.
“Never again.” He repeated her fervent declaration in the wine cellar.
She could feel how much he meant it. How much he wanted her to know she wassafe. Except she thought she had been safe with him before.
That trust was lost.
Dyna checked her shield on the bond, making sure it was solid.
Yet Cassiel didn’t lift his shield, as if he didn’t care to use it anymore. Everything he felt was there on the surface for her to feel, even when she didn’t want to. But it was hard to ignore. His guilt hung around him like his very own storm.
Heavy and suffocating.
When they had discussed his uncle, she inadvertently found herself trying to comfort him, and it annoyed her. Showing him any sympathy was out of habit from the girl she used to be, not because she cared. They weren’t friends anymore.
They weren’t mates.
They weren’t anything.
But no matter how much Dyna dissected his actions the day Cassiel left, she didn’t fully understand why he would do such a thing as to bind her magic and seal away her memories in the first place. Whatever his promises now, it didn’t change that she couldn’t trust him to one day find another inconceivable reason to do so again.
“Tell me why you broke us apart,” she said suddenly. “Tell me the truth for once. I am listening now.”
Cassiel blinked at her, completely taken aback. The rain poured down harder, but neither of them moved for cover.
Dyna swallowed, forcing herself to face him. If she didn’t confront him now with the questions that had fueled her nightmares for the past three months, she would never find any rest.
She needed closure to move on.
“You did this to us for a reason, right?” Dyna pressed when he didn’t answer. “You broke us because you believed it was the best thing to do. Tell me why. And I mean tell meeverything.”
Because he was hiding something from her. Even with his shield down. Even with his sad eyes. Even with his soul pleading for another chance.
He was still afraid.
It had to be more than her simply being human.
Cassiel opened his mouth but closed it. His throat bobbed, and the silence thickened. He couldn’t tell her. More like he wouldn’t. Because in his mind, he was protecting her. Well, she never asked to be protected, and certainly not with secrets and lies.
Dyna faced the dome again. “Leave me alone.”
“Dyna…”
“Leave,”she hissed through clenched teeth.
“Very well.” Cassiel yielded with a sigh, and he stood. “Someone should be here to watch over you and Zev. It will take a toll on your Essence to maintain the dome all night. Shall I call for Lucenna?”
