Violet
He smelled the same.
He was here. He was real, and I did not understand why I was so happy to see him even though it made my grief worse.
"I'm here," he murmured against my hair. "I'm here. You're safe."
His hand pressed against the back of my head, holding me against him, and I felt his chest heave with a breath that sounded like it had been trapped inside him for a very long time.
I felt everything through the bond. His relief, so overwhelming it was almost violent. His fury at what had been done to me, barely leashed and burning beneath the surface. His anguish at seeing me like this. And beneath it all, a desperate, aching tenderness that made my chest crack open.
He pulled back just enough to look at me again. His thumb brushed a tear from my cheek, smearing it through the dried blood on my skin.
Then his eyes dropped to Bei.
