Nero Blood

didn’t ever want to b

from the cuffs 12-3 removed before she left

ff this

g has gon

ere now, a

y brain, pressing in with

nd I are best and worst together when we

he fear.” His voice sends a wave of peace through me though, counter

m imprisoned. No, I think to my

I handle this, or it’s all

ext to the window a

” I say, which

’s not all I’m

s my name. It’s like another connection, far more intimate than just

do this,” I say as I curl into myself, making myself smaller and s

improvising righ

g,” I say, because I have

va,

e makes promises, I will let him keep them. “There isn’t a

s we can do almost nothing about. “I . . . maybe this is all just insanity and too impossible. I am who I am, and sometimes th

ing to change our future. I have already decided. We might be from different places. We might have different upbringings. But in the end, you are still the one I want to talk to at the close of every day.” My heart is racing and

in. I mean it, every one of these words, d

n in Valen’s physi

ic

cupies my chest. He’s heard my

im in a way no one else

worth fighting fo

nything for a long mom

ot st

t igno

ves he’s ended. He has no compassion. The darkness in him could swallow planets. The anger and resent

not the

d things in his life I

free everyone

t be more

hold onto it with every

ential for change. The potential for

ys. I feel his conflict. The weight in his stomach. “But I know I

He doesn’t tell me h

ay he’ll neve

me. That should ma

r where my heart and

austed, even though it is only mentally spoken. “I promise you