Chapter 45. The Door I Opened

June's POV

At nine o'clock, he knocked.

I'd been standing on the other side of the door for ten minutes with my hand on the key, listening to my own heart.

I turned it. I opened the door.

He stood on the step in the cold, in a clean shirt, with his hair still damp like he'd stood under a tap trying to cool down, and he didn't come in.

"You can still change your mind," he said. "Tonight. Halfway through. Tomorrow. Any time at all."

"I know."

"I'm saying it anyway."

"In front of witnesses?" I asked, and he laughed, rough and startled, and some of the stiffness went out of his shoulders.

"There aren't any witnesses."

"Then come inside," I said, "and there won't be."

* * *

The cabin was small. One room. A stove ticking in the corner, a narrow bed under the window, my healer's knives rol