Chapter 263

DEREK’S POV I wanted to tell her everything. That every cruel word I’d said to her had been a lie, sharpened only to keep her at arm’s length. That the only reason I looked twice at Seraphina was to keep Aurelia safe, to shield her from the poison I could already see spreading in her sister’s heart. That I didn’t think she was shameless. That I never could. But my tongue was stone. “I should,” was all I managed to say. Two words. Pathetic, when there was so much more buried in my chest. Her eyes narrowed, her voice small, wounded. “What does that mean?” My throat worked, but nothing came out. I could talk circles around Olivia once upon a time—flirt without thought, charm without effort. But this? With Aurelia? Every word twisted, caught, burned before it could leave my mouth. Because one truth slipped free, and I would ruin us both. Kael, as always, was quicker. He stepped into the silence, smirking faintly though his eyes flickered with something sharper. “What he means,” he drawled,