He exhaled hard, voice tightening. "I don't fault you for trying to shoulder everything yourself, we've always lived that way, handling our own battles until there's no other choice. But when it involved her… you should have called me."
Carl shook his head slowly. "I thought I could handle it. And I'm not blaming you. I won't. I'm the one to blame, Arthur, not you, not anyone else. I won't share the guilt." His gaze softened but didn't waver. "But you constantly reminding me of it doesn't help. I already live with it."
He pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down, the weight of exhaustion pressing on his shoulders though his face betrayed none of it.
Arthur, however, didn't let up. "You know," he said, his voice tightening as he finally glanced at Carl, "if you weren't still recovering… we would be at your training grounds right now."
