It eases. Just a little.
I lean forward before I can overthink it, pressing my forehead lightly against his shoulder. For a moment, he freezes.
Then one arm wraps around me, pulling me closer.
The mall noise fades behind us.
“I was wearing perfume that night. I didn’t think anything of it when I was trying them with Maeve. And he…” I can’t go on.
“It’s ok,” he murmurs.
He doesn’t rush me. His hand keeps moving slowly along my back, grounding.
After a moment, he speaks, voice low. “I know that face.”
I stiffen slightly. “What face?”
“The one you had in the hallway.” His thumb brushes absentmindedly over the back of my hand. “Like the floor just dropped out from under you.”
I swallow. “You don’t know that.”
He huffs quietly. “I do.”
I lean back just enough to look at him. His expression, serious.
“I’ve seen it before,” he says. “Different reasons. Same look.”
My stomach twists. Jace’s gaze drops briefly to the ground before coming back to me.
“For what it’s worth,” he says, cautious. “I’m sorry.”
The words catch me off guard. “For what?”
His jaw tightens slightly. “For everything we did to you when you got here.” His voice is calm, but there’s weight behind it. “The games. The pictures. Trying to break you.”
I blink.
“You were just following Gideon’s orders,” I say quietly.
“That doesn’t make it right.” His fingers tighten slightly around mine.
“I was used to it,” he continues. “You grow up in that world long enough, you stop questioning it. Orders come down, you follow them. Doesn’t matter who gets hurt along the way.”
The bitterness in his voice is subtle, but it’s there.
“Gideon calls it loyalty,” Jace says. His gaze flicks toward the mall behind us before settling back on me. “Really it’s just another leash.”
The words hang between us.
“You didn’t seem very leashed,” I murmur.
One corner of his mouth lifts faintly. “That’s because I didn’t realize it was there. Until you showed up.”
I frown slightly. “Me?”
“You didn’t bend,” he says simply. “Didn’t break. Didn’t play along with the hierarchy everyone else worships.” A quiet breath leaves him. “You challenged me. You made me look at it differently.”
The admission sounds like it costs him something.
