“You don’t understand what it’s like coming through what I did—coming back from being a Strigoi. It’s changed everything. It’s not just that what I did to you is unforgiveable. All my feelings . . . my emotions for you . . . they changed. I don’t feel the way I used to. I might be a dhampir again, but after what I went through . . . well, it’s scarred me. It altered my soul. I can’t love anyone now. I can’t—I don’t—love you. There’s nothing more between you and me.”
