Lilith met his eyes, guilt flickering across her face, as if ashamed of how little she'd believed in him.
"I barely had any hope for you," she admitted with raw honesty.
"I've seen so many failures. Watched so many hosts prove that corruption was inevitable. I was... exhausted. Hollow. Ready to give up."
Her grip on his face trembled.
"But there was still a part of me... stubborn, foolish, desperate... that pushed me to try one more time. To trust one more host. To give hope one final chance."
She took a shaking breath.
"You were my last attempt, Alex. My final test. The one I'd decided would either prove me right to keep hoping... or prove I'd been a fool all along."
Her throat worked in a hard swallow, emotion tightening her voice.
"But I'd been disappointed before. So I watched. I tested. I pushed you toward corruption while hoping desperately... agonizingly... that you'd resist."
She looked at him with fierce intensity.
