Cassian's POV.
I couldn’t breathe in that hallway.
The walls were too white, too sterile, too f*****g clean for what I’d just seen. Every time I blinked, I saw her face again...her bruises, her hair burnt to the scalp, her voice weak when she told me it was because of me. My stomach twisted so hard I thought I might throw up right there against the wall.
They’d sent me out of her ward, told me she needed space, told me they had to tend to her. I didn’t argue. I didn’t even have the strength to. My legs carried me down the hallway like I was some kind of puppet on strings, and then I just stopped. Back pressed against the wall, palms pressed to my knees, head hanging.
My chest burned. Not the kind of burn from training, not the kind from fighting...this was worse. Guilt had weight, and
