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Blank.

Nothing.

Only those three words.

Walk away…

Or bleed.

“I think he’s gone,” Rafe murmured.

“No.” I let the weight of it settle in the room. “He’s listening.”

Nyssa.

The training room.

Rain.

Concrete.

Cloves.

I wasn’t waiting for Cassian to answer anymore. “Call the men. Set up the meeting tomorrow. I’ll go to war myself.”

“Think about this for a second. You barely walked away the last time.”

I lifted my gaze to the only man I trusted more than life. “If it means she never has to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life, it’d be worth it.”

He flinched.

Really fucking flinched.

The coffee sat forgotten in his hand.

He’d stood beside me through blood.

Through House of Ash.

Through the night I lost everything.

I’d never seen him look at me like that.

“Rest,” I rose from the desk and turned around. “You look like Hell.”

He let out a low chuckle. “You walk twenty miles with a splitting headache and see how you look. I’ll make the call… and Alaric⁠—”

I stopped at the doorway. “Yes?”

“If we don’t survive this…”

He didn’t have to finish. Just one slow nod. That was all that was ever needed between us.

I’d known Rafe half my life.

We’d buried people together.

And still didn’t know what I did to deserve him.