Catherine wanted to be alone... to lock herself in her bedroom, to curl inward and breathe without witnesses. But the bracelet flared against her skin, a warning pulse of heat that made her stomach twist. She wasn't allowed to leave him behind.
She turned.
Of course, Maximilian was in pain too.
"Do not involve my family," she said flatly, though her heart was screaming, battering against her ribs.
In her previous life, she had lost every single one of them because of him.
In this life… she had been given a miracle: a whole, living family who loved her, who pampered her, who anchored her to the present.
She didn't want them anywhere near his gaze. Didn't want their names shaped by his lips. This wasn't just hatred.
It was fear.
"But I—" Maximilian couldn't finish. The pain split his skull apart, white-hot and merciless. He staggered, breath shuddering. He had never known a headache like this... never known pain that felt as though it was tearing through both heart and mind.
