Kael
The worst part was that I was still thinking about Drake saving me when the spear hit him.
Even as the battle unfolded around us, some stubborn part of my brain kept circling back to those few seconds beside the crates. I’d spent my entire life stepping between danger and everyone else. It wasn’t something I consciously thought about anymore. It was instinct. Training. Habit. Identity. Somewhere along the way, protecting people had stopped being something I did and become something I was.
Then Drake had thrown himself into danger to protect me.
The realization sat strangely in my chest because I genuinely didn’t know what to do with it. Every explanation my brain offered felt wrong. Drake had acted as though it was the most natural thing in the world, while I was still trying to u
