He wanted to kiss her again, wanted to shatter the shame and hopelessness and feed her something good and whole instead. Instead, he went back to cradling her against his tearstained shirt. “Ardala, I didn't ask you out out of a sense of obligation." He tried to find a point, tried to feed her something better with his words. “I asked you out because I want to get to know you. The bond might have been forced, but I was thinking of asking you out before."
She said nothing, didn't move but exhaustion was taking over, and she was starting to go unwillingly limp against him He could feel the yearning, her body demanding that she sleep but it was butting up against the need to run from him. The demand she'd placed on herself to break the bond and give him his freedom even if he was starting to
