She Was Supposed to Stay Broken, So I Let Her Think She Had novel · Chapter 13 of 40

Chapter 13: What Morning Did Not Ask

Kael starts to apologize for staying, and I pull the blanket over his shoulder before he can turn the night into a debt.

The stove has gone low. Cold has reached the edges of Dov's workroom, though the blanket keeps its warmth where it covers us. Kael watches my hand settle.

'You can stay for breakfast,' I say.

His gaze rests on me. 'I would like that.'

We slept together. The fact is mine to hold. It does not answer the summons at my wrist, and it does not settle what I owe him.

He looks as if another sentence is waiting. I know the shape of it: an apology offered gently enough that I might be expected to make it useful for him.

'This changes nothing about the case,' I say. 'I still owe you no reassurance.'

'I understand.' He pauses. 'I am not asking you to forgive me.'

His voice stays level. He does not tell me what the night meant. That restraint costs him something. I can see it in the hand he keeps flat against the blanket instead of reaching for mine.

I sit up and gather my blouse from the chair. His coat rests there too, with the sealed bond-reading document tucked among his things. The council cord is still near the worktable.

Kael dresses without moving either object. I watch him button his shirt, then look away before attention becomes a question he has to answer.

'There's bread,' I say. 'Dov left apple preserve.'

'A severe test of my character.'

'You may fail it by taking too much.'

His mouth lifts. A brief smile, unguarded enough to count. I let myself keep it without assigning it a future.

He reaches for the covered bowl and sets the preserve between us. The jar is nearly empty. Someone has scraped the sides clean with a spoon.

'I see Dov trusts us with the finest provisions,' he says.

'She trusts us to know how to use a spoon.'

He gives me the larger piece of bread. I take it. The crust breaks under my fingers, and the apple tastes of cloves. I had forgotten how much I like Dov's preserve.

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