[CAIUS POV]
"Wait―"
Iris was hugging me, her skinny arms wrapped around my neck so tightly I almost thought she was trying to strangle me.
The touch was as foreign as it was welcome. I froze in disbelief, wondering if the fighting earlier had scared her so much that she was looking to me for comfort. This was the first time since we were children that she had touched me out of her own free will, knowing full well who I was.
I sucked in my breath, only to accidentally inhale a lungful of her scent. It was what I smelled at the church when Iris was on the verge of death. It was only mere hours ago, but it felt like an entire lifetime after what we've been through together.
Instinctively, my body relaxed against hers. The hands that had hovered over her body slowly but surely touched the bare skin of her back, and I returned her hug.
