I lay nestled against Kaelen's warm body, his heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath my ear. The weight of sharing those orphanage memories had exhausted me, but there was also a strange lightness. Like I'd put down a burden I'd been carrying for too long.
"Thank you," I whispered, tracing my fingers along his chest.
"For what?" His voice rumbled, deep and comforting.
"For listening. For not looking at me differently."
He tilted my chin up, forcing me to meet his intense green gaze. "Why would I look at you differently?"
I shrugged, suddenly feeling vulnerable. "Because of what happened. Because I wasn't strong enough to—"
"Stop," he interrupted firmly. "You were a child facing impossible circumstances. You survived. That makes you strong."
His words warmed something inside me—a frozen part that had spent years convinced I was somehow to blame for what happened at the orphanage.
