"So madame, don'd leab your briends okay."
Rae's voice was muffled, pressed right into the softest part of her chest, nose digging in, his breath hot against her skin.
He sniffed again, real loud, like he was sucking the sadness right out of her cleavage.
Melissa froze. She'd been all fire a moment ago, ready to run straight at death, sword first.
She wanted to be a martyr, burn herself up so her friends could go home free.
That had been the plan. But hearing Rae say that, hearing him of all creatures talk about not leaving friends… it struck something raw.
'Even if the spell broke his emotions, even if he's half-crippled in the head, he's still carrying this sadness.'
Her heart clenched hard. He wasn't supposed to feel like this. Rae was supposed to be the comic relief, the stray they picked up, the one who didn't care.
But here he was, clinging, trembling, remembering things she had no right to take from him.
