~Leo POV~
The chains were not the worst part.
I had been chained before, in worse conditions, by people with far less reason. What sat heavier than any iron was the waiting, knowing she was somewhere above me in this house and that every hour I stayed quiet was an hour she went without the one thing I had held back for too long.
When the door finally opened, I did not look up immediately.
Boots on stone. One set, deliberate, unhurried. Someone who had decided before coming down here exactly how this conversation would go.
I looked up.
She stopped about four feet from where I sat, and we regarded each other in the low light of the dungeon for a moment that felt considerably longer than it was. She had Kate's mouth and her way of holding her shoulders, that particular set that said she was prepared for whatever came next. But her eyes were something else entirely, something I recognized from the inside out.
"You called for me," she said.
"I did."
