Verret’s Pov

I stood over her a long time, watching the way she curled herself around the floor as if it could hold her together. She looked small and fragile. I could not fathom what had happened, when I could have taken her life and ended whatever she carried inside her.

“Thank you,” she breathed at last, voice thin. “Thank you for saving me.”

Do not be quick, I told myself. Do not be sudden with mercy. “Do not thank me…not yet,” I said aloud, and the words tasted strange in my mouth.

I shut the door, locked the hall behind me, and let the silence of my chambers settle....