Page 104 of Savage Crown

Without need. Without devotion. Without this.

I have built walls so high, so unyielding, that I thought nothing could breach them.

But she has.

And now I can’t close the wound.

I let her go.

I turn away before I do something foolish.

Like keep touching her.

Like pull her against me and pretend this doesn’t terrify me.

Like admit that she is already inside me, beneath my skin, burning through me like something unstoppable.

I force distance between us.

I reach for my clothes, for the armor I should have never let fall away in the first place.

I need it now.

I need something to stop this feeling from consuming me whole.

She watches in silence.

She doesn’t stop me.

She doesn’t beg.

And gods, I wish she would.

It would be easier if she fought.

If she gave me an excuse to push her away.

But she doesn’t.

She just waits.

She knows.

She knows I am already hers.

Even if I will never say it.

Even if I try to fight it.

Even if I already know I’ve lost.

I grab my dagger, spinning it between my fingers, the weight of steel grounding me.

"We leave soon," I say, my voice cool, distant.

She nods, but doesn’t move from the bed.

Doesn’t cover herself.

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