Kael POV

The doors shut behind me with a slam that echoed through the empty corridor, rattling against the stone walls like the aftershock of a war drum. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Not from weakness. Never that. From restraint. From the words I’d flung at her like blades, knowing each one would cut deeper, knowing I could never take them back.

I wanted to turn back, every instinct screamed to storm back into that balcony chamber, to gather her up and crush her into my chest until her sobs drowned inside my heartbeat. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

Because if I did, if I showed her even a fraction...