My heart cracked, and a soft sob escaped my lips.

He rocked me, pulling me onto his lap. I closed my eyes, the agony of the events of the last two hours ripping into my heart. The scent of salty sea and pine wrapped around me, and my lungs greedily gulped it down. I couldn’t lose this, couldn’t lose him.

“I can’t do it, Lyv, and you wouldn’t want me to,” he murmured against my head.

I pulled back, meeting his unwavering, piercing gaze.

“I can’t let the world burn.”

I blinked through the tears streaming down my face. He was right, of course. Bayne was many, many things. And despite being an unbroken, rogue captain, Bayne’s integrity was second to none.

But for a fleeting moment all those months ago, I thought I’d seen it in his eyes. In Cyril’s tower on Kayj, afuryhot enough the melt the world.

That was not who he was, though, and a small piece of me hardened at the realization. He wouldn’t burn the world down for something as simple as love. He did what wasright. He always would.