But his mind was racing, puzzled by what he'd just heard. These didn't sound like recent events he knows of....
Sold? By her own family?
The words echoed in his mind, each one a knife twisting deeper.
He didn't know these were memories from a past life haunting her, fragments of traumas she'd never spoken about to him or anyone. Couldn't possibly know.
He was bewildered by her words that sounded more bizarre the more he thought but the pain in her voice had been real, visceral, lived.
What else had they done to her? What other horrors had she survived while he hadn't been there to protect her?
The questions burned through him, but he forced himself to breathe, to stay calm for her sake. She'd settled now, her body finally relaxed against his. That was what mattered.
For now.
He pressed a lingering kiss to her crown, his jaw clenched tight as he stared at the ceiling, mind cataloging every word she'd spoken in her nightmare.
