"Caelan…"
“I know,” he said quietly. “You don't want to talk. About us. About what this is. I need you to know that I worried about you every day while you were away. Always wondering if some European alpha was trying to charm his way into your good graces. If you were safe. If you were eating enough. "
"Were you jealous?" She asked without thinking.
"I was terrified," he answered. "There's a real difference."
She felt a shift inside her - the carefully constructed wall she'd been maintaining.
"Caelan, I can't… "
"You can't what? Feel something? Want something for yourself instead of the Empire? You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders for so long, you don’t know how to put it down."
He said, as his fingers caressed her face. "
"If I put it down, people die," said Vivi
