EMBER’S POV

“Knox—”

“So I loved her from behind glass. Never fully committed, never fully gone. And she stayed anyway because she was brave and stubborn and she believed I’d eventually let her in, and I didn’t, Ember. I never let her in. Not all the way. She wanted more, and she never said it out loud, but she resented me. She hated the man I was and couldn’t be and hated the goddess even more for trapping her with the worst of men. And then she died and I couldn’t even remember how because my mind erased the memories to protect me from the guilt, and the IRONY—” His...