Ashlynn pushed back from the table slightly, needing space to think, to process everything she'd just heard. Her mind was racing, cycling through everything Liam and Ollie had told her, trying to understand how things had gone so wrong.
"This is my fault," she said finally, and both Ollie and Liam immediately started to protest.
"My lady, you can't…" Liam began.
"It was my decision to…" Ollie said at the same time.
"Stop," Ashlynn said, cutting them both off with a gesture. "Just... stop. Let me finish."
She looked at Liam first, and her expression was gentle but firm.
"I asked too much of you," she said. "You're brilliant, Liam. You have vision and courage, and you understand the strategic value of this alliance in ways that very few people could. You're willing to look past centuries of prejudice to see the possibilities of what we could accomplish by working together instead of fighting each other, and that's a very rare thing.
