And Faolan, bruised, broken, and aching, blinked once.
Yes.
Chapter 27
Thane
When he entered, the room seemed smaller than it had before.
It was filled with the beep of machines and the unbearable fragility of the woman lying in the bed.
He had taken his contacts off for the first time in public since he was seventeen. The difference in his eyes—one bright blue, the other hazel—was stark. It was like he was painfully peeling off a layer in his carefully constructed fortress. Vulnerable, but only for her. There was no mask now.
Faolan lay in the bed, pale and bruised, swaddled in wires and gauze and hospital linen. But the numbers of wires and monitors were slowly decreasing.
She turned her head toward the sound of the door and saw him.
The man standing there wasn’t the Thane she remembered. The one with cocky confidence, sharp charm, and an aura that pulled people in. The one who could slay you with hisindifference. She had it directed to her many times over the last month. She had his hands on her as he took pleasure in his body.
This man was hollowed out. His shoulders slumped like guilt had dug its claws into his bones.
Their eyes met.
A tear broke free from his hazel eye, streaking down his cheek. He didn’t brush it away.
Someone quietly pulled a chair up beside her bed. Thane sat, slowly, like his knees might not hold.
His hand hovered over hers, trembling. She tried to pull hers under the blanket, away from him, but he reached out first—gently, like touching fine glass. His large, rough fingers closed over her smaller, fine-boned ones.
He seemed to take a moment just looking at their hands—his darker, callused, and trembling; hers bandaged, pale, and limp.
“I know I have no right,” he whispered. “No right at all.” His voice cracked. “I’m so sorry, Faolan. So…so very sorry.”
She heard the words and felt the sincerity behind them.
And though she knew she should not blame him, something inside her recoiled.
An unreasoning fear, cold and sharp, slid down her spine like a knife.
She remembered the dream. The gun. His smile.
Her fingers twitched. She tried to pull her hand free.
The machines beeped louder as her heart rate spiked.
A moment later, the nurse stepped in, kind but firm. “That’s enough for now. She needs rest. It’s been a lot.”
Thane let go and slowly nodded, silent as a ghost.
Then he left without looking back.
***
She woke the next morning to a dull ache in her throat and pressure in her chest.
The room was bright with morning light. The ventilator was gone.
“You ready?” the nurse asked.
