“What happened?” I demanded, snatching my hand away. “I did not ask. He will tell us when he’s ready.” “Oh.” That one simple word echoed my heartache better than a hundred others ever could. I was part of that us now, an outsider, no longer privy to his innermost thoughts or secrets. I’d pushed him away, frightened—no, nearly crazed—that he would do it first. He hadn’t, of course, but the effect remained the same. And it was my fault—all my fault. Slowly, I sank back onto the eave. “I see.” Claud raised a brow. “Do you?” “No,” I said miserably. “But you already knew that.”
