"You don’t trust me, do you?"
Ethan’s voice was quieter than I had ever heard it, and that alone made my chest tighten. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t demanding. He was just... tired.
I swallowed, the cool night air biting at my skin as I stood beside him on the stone balcony of the Elders’ stronghold. The Blood Moon still hung high in the sky, casting everything in a strange, ethereal glow. My body ached from the trials, my mind raw from the battle I had fought just hours ago. And yet, here we were—on the brink of something I could feel in my bones, something heavy enough to make my heart race in my chest.
"I do trust you," I murmured, but even I could hear the hesitation in my voice. "I just... I don’t understand why you’re acting like this."
Ethan let out a rough, humorless chuckle, run
