I said, voice raw, “There is nothing I can say to erase what I did.” “I don’t need your words.” He was so close now I felt his breath on my face. Felt that truth on my skin. “So show me,” he murmured. A command. A plea. Somehow both giving and taking, in equal measure. “Show me I’m right.” It went against everything I had always been. I wanted to cower from it. Wanted to hide. Instead, when Atrius’s hand rose to my face, I reached to the back of my head and untied my blindfold. The little strip of silk fluttered to the ground. I opened my eyes.
