I blinked, chest tightening. “And what are you, Alexander?”
His lips pressed into a thin line before the words spilled out, jagged and raw. “Dangerous, unstable. A man who can’t promise the people he leads that he won’t lose himself when it matters most.” His voice dropped lower. “I thought you’d be afraid.”
And maybe another version of me...the girl who hadn’t seen him fight his own nature, the one who hadn’t been trapped in the middle of his duality...might have been. But I wasn’t that girl..
Before I could second-guess myself, I reached out and laid my hand over his. His skin was warm beneath my palm, his muscles tense, every inch of him rigid as though he wasn’t sure whether to pull away.
“I’m not afraid of you, Alexander,” I said firmly, tightening my grip when he didn’t move. My
