The silence stretched until it hurt.
Damaris stood only a few feet away in the upstairs hallway. He still had not denied what I said. He had not looked away either. The careful distance he had kept for years was gone. In its place was something heavier, something that made the air between us feel too thin.
I did not move.
Neither did he.
I watched the fight happen behind his eyes. Duty against want. Eighteen years of restraint against the truth I had just thrown into the open. His hands flexed once at his sides and then went still again.
When he finally moved, it was not to speak.
He closed the space between us in two long steps. One hand came up and braced against the wall beside my head. The other stayed clenched at his side like he did not trust it. He did not touch me. He only tr
