Because I know where this is going, and I don't want to hear it.
She watches me carefully, like she knows exactly what I'm thinking. "And I've known that he's loved you every moment in between."
My breath catches, but I force myself to keep my expression neutral. "Love?" I scoff. "Love isn't forcing a bond. Love isn't taking away someone's choice."
"No," Revna agrees. "It isn't."
That throws me. I expected her to defend him, to tell me why he did what he did, why I should forgive him. Instead, she just watches me with that same measured calm.
I shake my head. "Then why are you here?"
"Because you need to understand something, Kaia." She steps forward again, and this time, I don't move away. "For centuries, Kieran held onto one thing—one belief that kept him going when the rest of the world burned around him."
She tells me anyway.
"He believed it was just the two of you."
The words hit harder than I want them to.
"He thought your bond would be singular, unbreakable. He believed, with everything in him, that it was meant to be just you and him." She exhales softly. "And when he realized it wasn't? That you had others?"
"He couldn't handle it," I finish for her.
Revna doesn't deny it.
I let out a slow breath, shaking my head. "That doesn't change what he did."
"No," she agrees. "It doesn't."
She doesn't try to justify it. Doesn't try to make excuses for him. And somehow, that makes this conversation worse.
Because I wanted to fight.
I wanted to argue.
But she isn't here to fight. She's here to tell me the truth.
I exhale, my hands tightening at my sides. "What am I supposed to do with that?"
Revna watches me for a long moment. Then, softly, she says, "That's up to you."
I look away, my eyes tracing the flowers at my feet, the small pool of still water, the trees stretching above us.
It was supposed to be just the two of us.
And now?
Now, I don't even know what's real anymore.
Chapter 23
Finn
Finn
The tension in the Hall of Echoes lingers long after Kaia storms out.
No one moves. No one speaks.
