Marion stood on the terrace, unaware of how long she had been there. The wind had picked up, gently moving the loose strands of hair at her temple. Her fist remained clenched, and though her tears had stopped, it wasn't because she had finished crying. Her body, in that slow, uneven moment after Binge's last words, had decided that crying wasn't what the moment called for.
She lifted her face to look at Binge, regarding him as a woman does the first person brave enough to voice a truth she had refused to acknowledge for seven years. Her gaze was neither soft nor grateful. "Why are you telling me this now? What do you stand to gain? Why make life harder than it already is?"
Binge didn't respond immediately. He regarded her with the careful attention he had held since she slapped him, a look that had not wavered with any of his previous sentences. "Because I could no longer sit back and watch you turn into someone foolish."
