Heavy.
His voice roughened again.
“I do not want her to die, yes. But there is absolutely no reason you should be sacrificed for her.”
His eyes flickered, a darker shadow passing through them.
“Do you love her?”
The question cut through him.
I saw it.
The exact moment it landed.
His eyes snapped to mine—sharp, startled, like I had struck something deep and unguarded.
For a moment, he looked... caught.
Vulnerable in a way I had never seen in him before.
His mouth opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
Nothing came out.
The silence stretched.
Finally—quietly—
“I... I don’t know how to love. I can’t. I’m incapable of it—of loving anyone.”
The words fell into the room like something fragile.
Like something he wasn’t used to admitting.
His jaw tightened, as if forcing himself to continue.
“But I know how to protect. How to repay. How to make sure the people who matter don’t suffer.”
His gaze dropped briefly, as if the weight of his own words pressed down on him.
“That’s what I’ve been doing for Violet.”
I didn’t look away.
Even though my eyes burned and my body screamed for rest, for escape, for anything but this—
I held his gaze like a challenge.
Like a question he couldn’t escape.
“Do you love me?”
Chapter 18
