Kane
The weight of the moment settled in the dungeon, heavier than the iron bars surrounding us. Dorian's words echoed in the back of my mind, a chilling reminder that we were just pawns in a much larger game. He had finally given us what we neededâno matter how carefully he wrapped it in cryptic riddles. The attack on the kingdom, the hidden forces pulling the stringsâeverything had come to light. And still, it felt like a hollow victory.
Fallon stood beside me, silent, her back straight, her shoulders tense. I could see the way she was fighting to keep herself together, to not let the weight of Dorian's words crush her. But I knew. I could feel the change in her. It was like the pieces of her had started to unravel, just like mine.
She didn't look at me. And that stung more than I was ready to admit.
Dorian had said enough to get us what we came for, but the words that followed weren't the ones I'd been prepared for. The cruel way he'd phrased it, the way he made it sound like everything was my fault, like I was the one driving her awayâit rattled me in ways I couldn't fully comprehend.
But it was nothing compared to what it had done to Fallon. I'd seen it in her eyes, the brief flicker of hurt before she'd turned away. She wasn't just hurt by Dorian's words. She was hurt by mine.
I had done what I thought was necessary to protect her. But maybe, just maybe, I had done it wrong.
The dungeon door creaked open behind us, the heavy sound pulling me from my thoughts. Guards were stationed at the entrance, watching us with wary eyes, but I didn't care. Not now.
Fallon didn't look back as she walked toward the exit. Her pace was quick, determined. Her jaw was set, a hard line that told me everything I needed to know: she was shutting me out.
I followed her without thinking. I had to explain. I couldn't let her believe for one second that what Dorian had said about me was true. She meant more to me than she could possibly understand.
"Fallon, wait!" My voice cut through the silence between us, but she didn't stop. She didn't even slow down.
I reached out, my fingers brushing against her arm, feeling the heat of her skin beneath my touch. Her body tensed, but she didn't pull awayâyet.
"Fallon, please," I said again, my voice softer this time. I tried to keep the urgency from slipping in, but it was hard. "I need you to listen. What I said back there... it wasn'tâ"
"Don't," she interrupted, her voice sharp like a blade. She finally stopped, her back still to me, but I could see the way her hands clenched at her sides. She was trying to keep it together, and I could feel her emotions swirling beneath the surface.
"I know what you're going to say, Kane. You don't need to explain yourself. You don't need to justify your actions. I get it." Her words were slow, measured, but there was a tremor in her voice that betrayed her calm exterior.
"No, you don't," I replied, taking a step closer, my heart pounding in my chest. "You think I don't care about you, but that's not true, Fallon. It's never been true."
She shook her head, her shoulders slumping slightly as if the weight of my words had taken a toll on her already fragile resolve. "It doesn't matter, Kane," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You made it clear. I'm just your trainee. I'm nothing more to you than that."
The pain in her words cut through me like a blade, sharp and unforgiving. But I couldn't let her walk away from me, not like this.
"That's not what I meant," I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "I said that to protect you, Fallon. You don't understand. If I'd said anything else, if I'd shown even the slightest bit of... anything... Dorian would have used it against us. He was trying to get inside our heads. He wanted to break us. He wanted to make us doubt each other."
She turned to face me then, her eyes filled with fire and frustration. But beneath it, I could see the hurt, the raw, aching wound I had just opened. My heart clenched.
"You think I'm stupid?" she asked, her voice a dangerous mix of hurt and anger. "You think I can't see through your lies, Kane? I'm not a fool. I know what's going on here. I know you're trying to push me away, like you always do. Like I don't mean anything to you. Like I'm just another soldier in your fight."
I could feel the guilt settling into my bones, suffocating me. "Fallon, you're not just another soldier. You're not just a trainee. You mean more to me than I can put into words." I took a step closer, ignoring the pounding of my pulse in my ears. "But I'm trying to protect you, okay? You don't know what this kind of thing can do to someone. You don't know what it's like to get too close and have it all torn away from you."
Her expression faltered for a moment, a brief flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. But it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by that same steely resolve.
"I don't need you to protect me, Kane," she said, her voice firmer than I had ever heard it. "I can handle this. I've been handling this my entire life." She took a step back, pulling her arm out of my grasp, and the coldness between us settled in like an icy wall. "What I need from you is honesty. I need you to stop pretending. Stop lying to me."
I couldn't stop the frustration from bubbling up. "I'm not lying, Fallon. I'm trying to protect you from the shitstorm that's coming. I'm trying to keep you safe."
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You're so focused on protecting me that you're forgetting something, Kane. I don't need to be protected. I need to be seen. I need to be valued. But you... you don't see me, do you? Not really."
I wanted to say something, anything to fix this, but the words were caught in my throat. She was right in some ways. I had been so caught up in pushing her away, in keeping myself distant, that I hadn't taken a moment to truly see her. To recognize what she was offering me, what we could be.
But it was too late now. The distance had already been created.
"Fallon, please..." I reached for her again, but she stepped back, her gaze hardening.
"I don't want to hear it, Kane," she said, her voice cold. "You made your choice."
She turned and walked away, leaving me standing there, rooted to the spot. And for the first time in my life, I wasn't sure how to fix it.