Maybe then I could explain.
Maybe then he’d understand.
---
ALEXANDER
By the time I finally headed down, the corridors were quiet.
The guards stiffened when they saw me and moved aside without a word.
Diana was sitting on the narrow bench inside the cell, her back against the wall, her head tilted slightly forward. Her hair was a mess now, strands loose around her face, her earlier fire burned down. She looked… tired. Not weak. Just spent. Like someone who had fought too hard for something already lost.
When she lifted her head and saw me, she let out a soft, breathy laugh.
I didn’t return it.
“So,” she said, her voice quieter than I thought, almost gentle. “This is what it comes down to.”
I stopped a few feet from the bars, hands at my sides, posture neutral.
“If anyone had tol
