"You're not scared of anything, Zayden," I muttered back. He grunted and shook his head. "Not true. I was scared I would lose you. I watched you harden after that night—the way you closed yourself off from the world, from your own emotions. You did everything you needed to do to survive your new role. But I was scared that it meant you wouldn't forgive me for lying. For deceiving you. For being the fox in the hen house. I was so fucking scared that if I told you, then that'd be the end of us. So I convinced myself the only thing to do was keep my mouth shut and... keep going as I was."
