“More than anything, I need to know you’re safe. I...care about you.” He means it. Without question or qualm, he truly means it. He would risk everything, his mission, his position, to keep me from harm. I think I know this feeling. I think I know how it holds my hopes in its bony fingers and prepares to squeeze, to crush them to dust like the bones of a fledgling bird. I think I’ve met it before, when I was younger and weaker. Now, I’m older and wiser and have met true fear. Now, when it urges me caution, I understand there are far worse fates than following your heart.
