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has to stay. Who has to face small minded people, persecution,

hatred, bigotry—all of it.”

“I hope between all of that, I’ll also receive understanding,

support, respect, and friendship. The storm will die down.

We’re in the eye of it now, but it will fade away. Even after

that, I know there will be aftershocks and it will linger, but if

you’re willing to stick it out and you want to stay, I know we

could support each other. And if this is a shitty place, a place

where no one gets us, if it gets too bad, we’ll sell and we can

go anywhere, like you said. Together. I know you could leave

if you wanted to, but I really hope you won’t. I know I haven’t

done much to deserve to ask you to stay. You’ve been the

strong one this whole time. I’m just hoping you’ll give me

another chance to prove to you that you can lean on me when

you need to. That I’m strong enough. I also know that all of

this happened right at the start of everything and that’s a pretty

rough beginning. I would understand if you didn’t want to give

it another chance. If you wanted to find a road less rocky and

someone with their heart in the right place from the start.”

Cassia shook her head, and her conflicted emotions showed

on her face. “I think your heart is in a perfect place. It always

was.”

Anxiety reared through Adalynn’s bloodstream again, but at

Cassia’s words, she exhaled hard and a lot of it ebbed away.

“I’m all raw emotion. I’m not charismatic. I’m bumbling and

—”

“You’re not bumbling. You have your own charm, and you

seriously underrate it. There isn’t anything wrong with raw

emotion either. A lot of people are afraid to feel anything. I

was told my whole life to learn how to channel and contain