Evangeline’s POV:
"Aren’t you supposed to be disgusted by me?"
The words tumbled from my lips before I could stop them, raw and trembling, soaked in the kind of shame I couldn’t hide anymore. My hands shook violently in my lap, trembling so badly I had to clench my fists just to keep from visibly falling apart.
Across from me, Orion’s entire body seemed to stiffen. Something flickered across his face — something that looked suspiciously like devastation — and before I could blink, he moved.
He crouched down on the carpet, right in front of me, lowering himself until we were eye-level. Like he wasn’t some powerful, terrifying man anymore, but just... Orion. The fear I had felt in the past hours being near him was now gone. I didn’t understand why that was.
He searched my face with an i
