"I didn't know you'd use it as an excuse to leave me alone."
Lucavion's expression tightened.
"It wasn't an excuse."
Jesse stared at him. "Then what was it?"
"A reason."
The distinction came quietly, without the trace of humor he might once have used to make it easier to swallow.
Lucavion glanced toward the open edge of the terrace, where the wind moved over the low wall and carried the distant noise of the Academy away beneath them.
"I couldn't return to Loria," he said. "Not without being caught."
"I know that."
"And when I found you here, the situation hadn't become simpler. There were people watching me before I had been at the Academy for a week. Some of them wanted information. Others wanted leverage." His eyes returned to hers. "I didn't know which one you would become if they saw us together."
