I stood in the cold dawn and let Roan's words sit in me until they stopped stinging and started teaching.
Now you'll wonder forever whether he'd lose a kingdom because he loves you or because he knows it's the one move that would make you believe he does.
It was a clever poison. And the cleverness was the tell.
Because a man who simply wanted me would have let Cain's offer stand would have wanted me to feel safe, chosen, free. Roan hadn't. Roan had taken the most generous thing Cain had ever done and turned it, in one sentence, into another reason to doubt. Twice now he'd handed me a blade pointed at my own husband and called it honesty.
A man in love protects your peace. A man running a play protects your doubt.
I turned to him. "You keep saying you're not making a move."
"I'm not."
