Diana’s POV
As the words left his lips, “Diana, I’m done letting anyone hurt you,” my body locked into stone.
He stepped closer.
I staggered back, my breath catching.
The face before me could’ve been carved straight from the marrow of my nightmares.
Kael.
His voice, calm. Too calm. His eyes, dammit, looked softer than I remembered. Like spring skies instead of winter steel.
But I knew better. I remembered. That softness? It was a mask stretched thin over cruelty.
I wouldn’t fall for it again.
Not this time.
“You think I’ll believe this? That you care?” I spat, my voice trembling with a rage that didn’t feel like mine anymore. “You think pity undoes everything you did to me?”
I didn’t give him a chance to answer.
Before I could stop myself, my foot lashed out, slamming into his
