The words hung in the air like a guillotine blade.
Do you want to know something about me?
Cordelia had whispered it before she even knew she’d decided to speak. Now, the room felt colder, heavier, as if the walls themselves leaned in to listen. She wanted to swallow the words back down, bury them in her throat where they belonged, but it was too late. They were between her and Ash, unavoidable.
He didn’t answer.
Instead, Ash looked at her. Just looked. And Cordelia swore it was worse than if he had shouted, worse than if he had demanded, Tell me.
His eyes weren’t hard. They weren’t even angry. They were searching—measuring her carefully, the way a man studies a map he doesn’t trust, trying to find the lies in its lines.
Cordelia’s breath hitched. She could feel the thin fabric of th
