Chapter 510
Julie's point of view
I didn't ask how long he had been standing watch out here, and he didn't volunteer the information. We simply stood in the hush of the corridor, while a pale strip of afternoon light stretching from the distant window cut a sharp line across the floor between us.
"You were telling him a story," he noted quietly.
"An old one. I used to tell it to myself when I was a little girl," I offered a faint, self-conscious smile, feeling a sudden flush of heat warm my cheeks. "I didn't know any others."
He didn't mock me. He closed the distance between us in a single stride, raised his hand, and hooked his knuckles under my chin to brush a stray lock of hair away from my temple, lingering a brief moment with his palm flat against my cheek.
"Good," he murmured, his voice barely scraping the air.
He didn't add another syllable, but that single, gravelly word carried a weight no flowery speech could ever match.
