Violet
I felt numb.
We moved through the port in silence, and I kept my eyes fixed ahead, refusing to let them drift toward him.
The same way I had been trying to do so on the ship.
The past two days at the sea had been odd. He had also been quiet.
And the worst part was that I felt hurt that he was hurt.
I couldn't bear to look at him because of it.
I wasn't sure how exactly he had known what had been going through my mind at that moment. And him asking me about Kael had stunned me because I truly was thinking about Kael, alongside the fact that I ended up failing to shake Rowan off.
The moment I had seen the flash of pain cross his face, something in my chest had twisted sharply.
I shouldn't have cared, and I didn't want to. But I did.
And that realization had sent me spiralling into a decision I had made somewhere in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by nothing but water and the relentless pull of two bonds I never asked for.
I had actively decided to block it out.
