I turned and left.
Behind me, metal slammed into the wall — then clattered violently to the floor.
Chapter 26
Seph
Sable was waiting in my room when I returned.
She stood near the bed with a bag clenched in her fist, shoulders tight. I stopped short when I saw it.
“Sable… what’s going on?”
She hesitated, jaw working like she was grinding something down.
“Nothing,” she said flatly. Then, after a beat, quieter, “I just thought… today was rough. And maybe I could stay. Tonight. Like we used to.”
My chest tightened. “I thought you were angry at me.”
Her mouth thinned. “I am.”
The honesty hit harder than denial ever could.
“You never should’ve left,” she went on. “That part hasn’t changed.” She glanced away, then back at me, eyes sharp but tired. “But I realised something.”
“What?”
She exhaled slowly. “I keep judging your choices like they’re mine to make. Like I’d have done better.” A bitter huff. “Truth is, you didn’t know what would happen. None of us did.”
She shifted the bag in her grip, fingers whitening.
“I don’t have to like what you did,” she said. “But I don’t get to punish you for it either.”
I offered her a small smile. “Thank you.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Besides. We haven’t really talked since I – “
“Came back from the dead?” I said quietly.
Her gaze didn’t waver. “I didn’t mean to hurt you then.”
“But you aren’t sorry either.”
Sable didn’t flinch. “No. I’m not. I would do it again.”
That stung more than I expected.
“Was it all a set-up?” I asked. “The escape. Everything. Would you have brought me here if you could?”
“I wanted to,” she admitted. “Maybe I should have tried harder. At least then—”
“At least what?”
She hesitated — which meant it mattered.
“At least you would have understood the board you’re standing on.”
