Page 32 of The Endless Want

“You don’t rely on people,” I say. “You partner with them.”

Something flickers across her expression—surprise, wariness, something else she tries to blink away.

“You sound like you’ve been waiting to say that.”

“Maybe I have.”

The rain hits the window in soft, steady taps. The city outside is blurred by the storm, as if we’ve been cut off from the world entirely. It’s too quiet in here. Too intimate. The kind of quiet that forces people to tell truths they aren’t ready for.

Ailish wraps her arms around herself, fingers gripping her elbows. “Declan… I need you to answer something honestly.”

“Ask.”

“If it’s really her. If Nadia’s friend is the one who marked my car.” She turns the mug a slow half circle on her knee. “What’s left of her, Declan? Is there a version of Dara that Nadia would still recognize, or did they finish her a long time ago?”

I let out a slow breath. That question’s been circling my mind since the alley.

“It means she’ll blame herself,” I say.

Ailish nods. “I thought so.”

“She’ll be broken,” Ailish murmurs. “If she finds out she’s being used to destroy me⁠—”

“She won’t be broken,” I interrupt. “She’ll be furious. And she’ll insist she has help us, Liam and his overprotectiveness be damned.”

Ailish studies me for a moment. Then her voice softens. “And what about you, Declan? What does this bring up for you?”

I stiffen. I wasn’t expecting that.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve hunted these women before,” she says quietly. “You know how this machine works. You know what it does to them. If we’re right—and I think we are—then someone who never had a choice now has orders to kill me. How does that sit with you? Honestly.”

Her question hits deeper than I want it to.

I lean back, eyes drifting toward the rain-streaked window. “It sits like something I’d burn the world down to stop.”

Her breath catches.

Ailish stands slowly, placing her mug on the table with a faint click. She steps closer, her expression soft but determined.

“What are you afraid of?” she asks.

I huff out a humorless breath. “Losing a fight I can’t see.”

“Or losing me?” she says quietly.

I look at her. Really look. And something in my chest gives way.

“I’m afraid of failing to protect the one person who should have never been dragged into this war,” I say. “And yes, I’m afraid of losing you before I even⁠—”

I stop myself.

Too close. Too raw.

She takes another step closer. “Before you what?” she whispers.

I don’t answer. Because if I do, there’s no turning back.