"You were right."
Lucavion had already said the words once, but the second attempt carried none of the distant certainty of the first.
Jesse remained close enough to feel the breath leave him. Her fist still held his collar, though the fabric had begun slipping through her fingers, while her other hand rested against the chest she had struck until the strength went out of the blows. Beneath her knuckles, his heartbeat had lost its steady rhythm.
His mouth opened.
"I…"
He got no further than that.
A tremor moved through his lower lip. Lucavion pressed his teeth against it, trying to force the movement still, but the effort only carried the shaking into his jaw and down the line of his shoulders. His fingers curled beside him, nails pressing into his palms as though pain might restore the control that had survived every accusation until now.
