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The truth.

The one I could apparently give everyone except her.

Rafe exhaled. “Then give her a reason to stay.”

I turned. “How?”

“Tell her.”

I shook my head.

“Tell her before somebody else does.”

Cold moved through me.

The Clove Man.

Rafe didn’t need to say his name. He walked past me and stopped at the doorway.

“She’s already told you what she needs.”

Then he left.

I stood alone.

Again.

The cellar beneath my feet and Nyssa down the hall. And for the first time, there was no fucking enemy to blame. I walked out of the study and into the hallway toward her wing. Every step gave me time to turn around.

I didn’t.

Her door waited at the end of the corridor.

Closed.

I’d stood outside that door before.

God.

How many times?

Waiting.

Listening.

Wanting.

Never entering unless she let me. I’d searched the room before allowing her back inside. I’d stood on this threshold and waited while she decided whether she wanted me. Every time…the choice had been hers. Until now.

I stopped outside. Raised my hand. My knuckles hovered an inch from the wood.

Knock.

One movement.

That was all.

She’d open it.