Chapter 350. You’re Allowed to Break

She stared at his back, at the wide line of his shoulders, at the man who had taken every blow meant for her until he was made of scar tissue and stubbornness. She wanted to cross the space and put her hand on the back of his neck and say here. But she could feel the edge of the cliff under both their feet.

“It is not calm for me either,” she said, tired and furious. “Do you think I enjoy this? That I like being a rumor with legs? That I wanted to take strays and nobles and shove them into one pen and say ‘play nice’? I am choosing the least bloody path every hour of my life. And you...” she pointed at him, low and shaking “...you are supposed to choose it with me.”

He faced her again, eyes bright with something close to pain.

“I am. That’s why I want to tear his throat out. That’s why I want to throw the nobles into the yard and let my wolves show them what protection looks like. Because choosing you means keeping you breathing, and you keep choosing to stand betw