They stood locked in a heavy, wordless standoff for ages before Solenne finally dragged her stiff feet over to the bed.
But she refused to sit down, every line of her body screaming restraint and outright resistance.
Watching her act so deliberately distant, like she couldn't stand being near him, Brando felt a tight, suffocating weight settle in his chest, and he was flooded with a deep sense of helplessness.
He lowered his voice, soft and gentle, and asked, "What's wrong?"
At the same time, a strange, hazy sense of unreality washed over him.
Ever since he'd come back to life for a second time, so many things had played out completely differently from how he remembered them.
Could the choices he'd made this time around have shifted the course of everything?
But this unmasked coldne
