Page 291 of Reaper Said Mine

Then I laugh softly. Not because it's funny. Because it isn't. Because that is exactly what I thought about him.

"Well," I say, "that makes two of us."

Something shifts in his expression. Recognition settles there, followed by a weary understanding.

We sit there looking at each other while the truth settles between us. Neither of us has been entirely fair. Not recently.

"You scared me," I admit.

His eyes close briefly.

"I know."

"No. I don't think you do."

He opens them again.

"I watched that broadcast, Gnash."

His face stills.

"The protectorate agreement."

I swallow.

"I looked at that screen and thought maybe I didn't know you anymore."

Pain flashes across his features so quickly most people would miss it. I don't. I need to see it. Not because I enjoy hurting him, but because honesty matters more than comfort right now.

"I know," he says quietly.

"I kept asking myself whether the man I loved had traded away everything he believed."

His gaze drops briefly to the floor.

"I wondered if maybe I had been seeing what I wanted to see."

The silence that follows feels dense enough to touch.

When he finally speaks, his voice sounds rough.

"I wondered the same thing."

That wasn't the answer I expected.

My breath catches.

"What?"

His hands clasp together. The massive fingers that can bend steel now look strangely uncertain.

"When I signed it."

He stares at the floor.

"When the agreement became real."

His voice lowers further.