"It just ended."
She nodded, her gaze drifting to the photographs still scattered across the table. The well. The seal. The evidence of someone's deliberate cruelty.
"Paul thinks I brought this here," she said quietly. "That someone's targeting me."
"Paul talks too much."
"But he's not wrong, is he?" She finally met his eyes, and the hurt there was almost more than he could bear. "Someone is targeting me. All of this, the well, the sickness, whatever they're trying to do, it's connected to me. To my blood."
"That doesn't make it your fault."
Her laugh was hollow. "I've been trying so hard to belong here. To prove I'm not a threat. And the whole time, someone's been using me as a weapon against the town I wanted to call home."
"Chloe."
"What did I do?" Her voice cracked, just slightly. "What did I ever do to anyone that would make them hate me this much?"
He didn't have an answer. Couldn't give her one, because he didn't understand it either. She was good and kind and worked harder than anyone he knew to earn a place that should have been given to her freely. The idea that someone was deliberately trying to hurt her, to use her, to make her a scapegoat for their own twisted purposes, it made him want to tear something apart with his bare hands.
"I need some time," she said. "I just... I need to think."
"Okay."
"I'm not running away." She said it like she was attempting to convince herself as much as him. "I just need to be alone for a while."
"I understand."
She turned toward the door, then paused. "Corin?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For defending me. Even when I'm not sure I deserve it."
"You always deserve it."
She didn't respond. Just walked out, her footsteps echoing in the empty hall until even his bear's sharp ears couldn't hear them anymore.
Elias appeared at his shoulder. "You okay?"
"No." Corin stared at the closed door, his hands still curled into fists. "But I will be. Once I find whoever's doing this."
"And then?"
"Then they're going to wish they'd never touched what's mine."
Elias nodded slowly. "I'll help you look."
"I know."
They stood in silence for a long moment. Corin wanted to go after Chloe. Wanted to wrap her in his arms and promise her that everything would be okay, that he'd protect her, that she'd never have to feel this way again. But she needed space. She'd asked for it, and he'd give it to her, even if it killed him.
That was what love meant. Not just holding on, but knowing when to let go.
He just hoped she'd come back when she was ready.
26
CHLOE
