"Why?" she asked, her voice trembling despite herself. "Why did you just leave me?"
"Twice, Cassian." Her voice cracked, but she didn't stop. "Once when you left for the academy and never wrote. And then again, when you killed the Second Prince and disappeared to the border. You never contacted me. Not once."
Cassian's eyes dropped for a moment, a rare crack in his composure. When he looked back at her, it was as if years of restrained emotion rose behind his carefully built façade.
He took a tentative step closer, the polished heels of his black boots clicking softly against the marble floor.
"I didn't leave you because I wanted to," he said quietly. "The first time… When I left for the academy… I couldn't contact anyone."
Adeline stayed silent, her expression unreadable.
"There were people watching me," Cassian continued. "Waiting for a misstep. A weakness. And you... I could not put you in danger. If anything happened to you, I could not live with myself."
