Chapter 62: Tense Talk pt. 2

Leander is on his feet so fast his chair flips backwards to clatter on the floor.

“Never say her name.” The command comes tight and hushed, like his breath has abandoned him. For a second nobody moves, and when I meet his eyes, they’re barely holding back the water rising into them.

“No?” Inching forward in my seat, I give him every ounce of attention I’ve got. The agony he feels over losing her paints his countenance grey. Even after all these years, the loss is as fresh as if she just died. He’s every bit as haggard as he was the day I found him in Alita’s cottage.

The memory of what he said to me that day sears through my blood.

“It should have been you.”

Centuries later, I know he means it every bit as deeply.

“Is it so wrong to say her name?” I ask timidly. “Didn’t you love her?”