I stared at the letter in my hands.
My mother’s handwriting.
After all these years, I was looking at words written by the woman I had spent my entire life trying to remember.
My fingers trembled.
“Where did you get this?”
Kael stood a few feet away.
“It was among the things your mother left with my family.”
“You had this all along?”
“Yes.”
I looked at him, anger rising again.
“You really are full of secrets.”
“I know.”
For once, Kael didn’t defend himself.
He simply looked at me.
“I can’t change what I did to you, Elara.”
I said nothing.
“I can’t take back the rejection. I can’t erase the humiliation. And I can’t make you trust me because I want you to.”
His voice was quiet.
“But I can stop asking you to forgive me before you’re ready.”
I looked at him.
“What do you wan
