“Holden,” she murmured, her voice barely a whisper, afraid that even speaking the words might give them too much power.
He turned his head, his golden eyes softening as they met hers, that familiar warmth spreading through her like liquid sunshine. “What troubles you, my heart?” His voice was a low rumble, a sound that always settled her deepest anxieties. But today, it couldn’t quite reach the tendrils of doubt that were beginning to coil around her heart.
She hesitated, searching for the right words, the words that wouldn’t sound ungrateful, wouldn’t sound like she was questioning the gift he had given her, the love 71. he had bestowed. “It’s just… the time,” she finally managed, her gaze drifting away from his, out towards the endless canopy of the forest, towards the boundless sky be
