I keep walking until I am close enough that Arturo makes a sharp warning sound and Darlene swears behind me.
Kauss looks horrified. “Do not come closer.”
“You won’t shoot me.”
“No.”
“Then look at me.”
“I am.”
“No.” Tears blur my vision. “Look at me, not him. Not the war. Not everyone you lost. Me.”
His eyes lock on mine.
The world seems to hold its breath.
“I heard you,” I whisper.
His expression changes.
“In the hospital. I heard enough.”
His mouth parts slightly.
“I heard about the keys.”
The pistol shakes.
Just once.
“I heard you say you wanted the door. I heard you say you wanted mornings. I heard you say you loved me.” My voice breaks, and I let it because truth does not need to be pretty. “And I love you too, you impossible, stubborn, beautiful man. But I cannot follow you into a life where love means there is always one more body to make safe.”
Kauss’s eyes shine.
“I am not asking you to spare him because he deserves it,” I say. “He doesn’t. I’m asking you to spare what’s left of you.”
Ron’s breathing is harsh in the silence.
Kauss’s hand lowers slowly.
The pistol drops to his side.
A sound moves through the room, small and shocked.
Kauss looks at Ron with something colder than hate. “You leave Vedder City tonight.”
Ron stares up at him.
“You take anyone foolish enough to follow you,” Kauss says. “You leave this planet if you have the means. If I see you again, if Evie hears your name in fear again, mercy ends.”
Arturo steps forward carefully. “We can arrange transport.”
“Do it,” Kauss says.
Darlene exhales behind me. “Thank every god with taste.”
I sway.
