Sean sat stunned, the letter clasped tight in his fingers. Last semester he knew what he would have been asking himself. “Could this really have been addressed to the cold and detached professor that he knew? Radiant smile? Laughing with brightness? Kisses? Surely, this couldn’t be the same man.” But he knew better now, knew that his Gael had seen what Sean saw, and couldn’t fathom that Gael could walk away.
Ellory sat still beside him, eyes still closed and slow tears burning their way down his face. He looked like a marble statue, a testament to something so catastrophic, that for a moment Sean was afraid of reaching out in case he’d wrapped himself in some hard, cold shell.
“You called me the same thing he called you,” Sean said, hushed. Ellory gave one body-shaking sob.
“You a
