Clean hate was easier.
This was messy.
This hurt more.
Graham rubbed his palms over his thighs.
“She hated it because she saw what it was doing to Noah.”
His name made Aria’s body tighten.
I felt Drake rise immediately.
I pushed him down.
Barely.
“Noah listened too closely,” Graham said. “Even when we were little. I was four, maybe five, and he was already old enough to understand enough to be dangerous with it. My father would tell us the story every night, and I would fall asleep halfway through because I was a kid and I got bored. But Noah…”
He stopped.
His throat moved.
“Noah remembered every word.”
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the council behind the glass seemed to have stopped breathing.
I didn’t look at them.
If I looked at them, I was going to remember they
