I won't chase.
I won't threaten.
I won't manipulate.
She deserves the choice. A real one. With full information.
Emmaleen looks at me for a long moment.
Then she smiles."Three hearts that found you in the deepest dark,
Where monsters wait with ink-stained hands to hold?—
I pressed through cracks to reach this sacred mark.
My choice was made before your sins were told:
To slip through spaces only beaks can breach,
And love the parts of you that can't be sold.
So teach me now what darkness has to teach."
Terza rima.
Perfect meter.
Octopus metaphor deployed like a fucking weapon.
Jino and Lorcan stare at Emmaleen like she just recited the Fibonacci sequence backward while juggling knives.
I stare at her too.
My little word collector.
Because this woman—this brilliant, damaged, impossible woman—just looked at my worst sin, my deepest shame, my most unforgivable secret...
And gave me…art.
I brace for Jino's exit. For the moment he tells me this is too much, that he can't be part of whatever fucked-up triad just formed in Lorcan's great room.
Instead, Jino runs both hands through his hair and laughs—sharp, bitter, slightly unhinged.
"My job just doubled."
I blink.
"I was managing one monster." He points at me. "Now I'm managing two." He swings his finger to Lorcan.
Lorcan opens his mouth, but Jino cuts him off with a raised hand.
"New protocol. Effective immediately." Jino's voice shifts into full training mode—clinical, precise, unyielding. "I must be present for any edge play involving breath restriction, choking, or positional asphyxiation with either of you."
He looks between us.
"This is non-negotiable."
I start to object, but Jino steps closer.
