“He’s trying to protect me,” Erik says. “The Dark Angel has been leaving me notes. Playing for me. Remy thinks I’m in danger. That’s why we’re asking.”
Christianna’s expression doesn’t change.
“I don’t know you,” she says evenly. “I won’t bare my soul to you.” A pause. Measured. “There were lasting consequences from what happened to me. That’s enough.”
Her gaze sharpens, pins us both.
“Even if I knew who the Dark Angel was, I wouldn’t tell you.” Her voice never wavers. “She protected us. Every one of us. If she killed him, I’d buy her a drink.”
She lifts her chin.
“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”
I stiffen. “So she exists?”
She studies me, then gives a small, sad smile. “For the purpose of this conversation, let’s say that at that point in my life, I needed her to.”
She lets that land.
“Whether she was flesh or story doesn’t matter.” Her gaze shifts briefly to Erik. “As for your concern about him,” the smile returns, thinner now. “The figure from the past only ever avenged. Harm invited consequence.”
Her eyes come back to me, steady, unapologetic.
“If you’ve caused no harm, there’s nothing to fear. If you have, you earned what followed.”
She rises, gathering herself with quiet finality.
“I’m leaving.”
Chapter thirty-one
Erik
She turns toward the door.
Then she reaches down, slips my T-shirt over her head, and drops it to the floor.
“I don’t want you thinking I took something from you,” she says calmly.
The implication lands hard. Like you tried to take from me.
I’m on my feet before I think better of it. “Let me walk you to your suite.”
I need this to end differently.
Remy stands too.
“Christianna,” he says, quieter now. “I didn’t expect the conversation to go there. I never would have asked if I thought it would.”
Her gaze cuts him off.
“You didn’t stop it once you saw where it was going,” she says. “I thought you were different. That’s on me.”
The words sting because they’re earned.
If she leaves now, there’s no circling back. No second chance.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
