Chapter 393

Zavian didn’t return her embrace. He neither pushed her away nor drew her closer. His body remained rigid, unyielding against her softness.

A distant church bell tolled the hour, momentarily drawing Zavian’s attention before his focus returned to the woman clinging to him.

“You know how deeply attached I am to you and that I can’t bear life without you,” Emmeline went on, choking with repressed tears. “I could survive, but I don’t want to. The thought of waking each morning knowing you’re beyond my reach... it terrifies me more than anything else ever has.”

Her honesty was absolute, stripped of pretense or manipulation. She had laid her heart bare before him, vulnerable and unguarded, offering it up for his judgment.

The risk was enormous: Zavian could crush her with a word, with a gesture of dismissal yet she had no choice. Pride had no place in this moment, not when everything that mattered was at stake.

Emmeline’s rebellious sobs interrupted her word