Harper
His hand closed around mine.
I didn't turn around. The corridor hummed its fluorescent hum and neither of us moved.
He wasn't pulling. Wasn't squeezing. Just holding, the way you hold something you're not sure you're allowed to keep. The choice sat on my side of the line, exactly where he'd put it.
"I was wrong."
I turned around.
His face was the one I'd seen maybe three times since I'd known him. The version behind the wall. Just the raw foundation with nothing on top of it.
"Last time you came outside the wire with me, Maia disappeared." His voice was low and stripped clean. "I couldn't let that happen to you. I knew it wasn't my call. I made it anyway."
Through the bond, nothing dodged. Just the whole ugly truth sitting out in the open.
"So you'd rather lie to me than le
