Page 167 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8
He had to stop her tears.
In the end, she would not pity him.
‘I stayed out for an hour, no more…’
‘The fire,’ she said, and faster her tears fell.
His blood turned to ice. It ran into his bones. Threatened to shatter them to nothing but dust.
‘When I came back… The house was gone. It was nothing but smoke and ash. Some survived. They stood with firemen or sat inside ambulances. But Amelia was gone. The top of the house… It was still smoking. She was…dead.’
Aurora swiped at her cheeks with the backs of her hands. And then she looked at him, her chest moving up and down as rapidly as his own. She lifted her arms and held them wide. ‘Come to me,’ she said.
‘I will not.’
‘Come to me,’ she demanded again, and his body ached with his resistance to fall into her arms.
‘I do not want your pity,’ he growled. ‘I do not deserve it.’
‘You deserve everything,’ she corrected him.
‘Have you heardnothing?’
‘I heard every word,’ she said, still holding those dainty arms open for him.
‘You were a child taking care of his sister in a house that should never have existed with children inside it. But you existed. Both of you did. And you made that existence bearable for your sister because you loved her. And you wanted a moment for yourself, and you did what you thought was right. You tried to keep her safe.’
‘And I failed.’
‘Your mother failed you. From the moment you were born, from the moment she thrust Amelia into your arms. It wasn’t your fault. Forgive yourself, Sebastian.’
‘Never.’
She rose on her knees. ‘I’m going to hold you.’
‘I do not want you to.’
‘But I’m going to,’ she said. ‘I’m going to hold the little boy who needed someone to hold him. I’m going to hold you, the man who needs to be held because he has been alone for far too long. He has locked himself away for years because he blamed himself for something that was never his fault—’ Her voice broke.
Something tore inside him. In his chest.
‘Itwasmy fault.’
‘It wasn’t,’ she said, and she sat in front of him on her knees. ‘But you’ve punished yourself enough.’
‘It will never be enough.’
She brushed the tears away, but her eyes pleaded. ‘Let me hold you.’
‘I do not want your arms around me,’ he lied, because all his body craved was her.
‘Turn the light off.’
His gaze narrowed. ‘Why?’
She gripped the hem of her nighty, tore it over her head and threw it on the ground.
‘What are you doing?’ he growled.
