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Ryan’s hands tighten against my waist.

“She didn’t erase my mistake to make forgiveness easier,” I continue. “She let both truths exist. I made the wrong choice, and I loved her while making it.”

“She forgave you.”

“She said I’ve always had her forgiveness.”

“And Aura?”

“I apologized for treating her relationship with Easton like another crisis happening to me. She told me I made her feel abandoned, then called me a self-absorbed bitch.”

“That sounds like Aura.”

“She hugged me immediately afterward, which made the insult considerably less effective.”

“Also sounds like Aura.”

“She didn’t let me hide behind what was happening with Ryan and me. She said my pain explained why I became consumed by myself, but it didn’t change how alone I made her feel.”

“What did you say?”

“That she was right.”

Ryan’s thumb moves slowly along my waist. “And Cade?”

I draw a careful breath. “I spoke to him yesterday.”

His eyes remain on mine. “How did it go?”

“He was livid.”

Ryan gives one slow nod, accepting that without surprise or objection. “He had a right to be.”

“I know.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me he was the one who pushed you to fight before the wedding. You were prepared to keep everything surface level, and Cade told you not to run from whatever still existed between us.”

Ryan looks toward the windows. “He thought I needed an answer.”

“He thought I had changed enough to give you one.” I fold my hands in my lap before continuing. “Then he watched what happened. He watched you leave the castle after asking me to fight for you, knowing you still couldn’t trust me enough to stay.”

Ryan’s jaw tightens, but he doesn’t interrupt.

“Cade told me to let you go.”

His attention returns to me.

“He said if I loved you, I needed to stop reaching until I had something different to offer. No promises. No dramatic gesture. No asking you to watch me become the woman I kept claiming I could be.” My throat tightens. “He said fighting for you meant doing the work when you weren’t there to reward me for it.”

“That sounds like Cade.”

“He was brutal.”

“That also sounds like Cade.”

“He told me loving you didn’t give me the right to keep reopening the wound every time I became afraid you might heal without me.”