Liam acted before his mind could catch up with the development. He rushed to Grace, moving so quickly he blew away the Qi he had unconsciously released, his hood falling on its own to reveal his face.
Grace instinctively got defensive, only for something else to fuel her frozen state. Liam had grabbed her arms to check her all over, even getting to his knees at some point to search whether his Qi had touched her shoes.
Luckily, the deadly Qi hadn't touched Grace, but the predicament was far from over for Liam. He exhaled loudly in reassurance, but placed a hand on his sweaty, lowered face, having to deal with guilt and something that refused to disappear.
The hiss still rang in Liam's ears, echoing the mental state he had reached earlier, as if wanting to act as a permanent reminder of what he could and should become.
"I'm sorry," Liam panted, squinting his eyes to attempt to suppress the hiss. "I was careless. I'm sorry."
