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I stare at her.

“Now I hate who I was,” I say, quieter. “Because you filled in all these spaces I didn’t know were fuckingmissing, and now I can’t remember what it felt like not to need you there.”

Her expression doesn’t soften. But her breath hitches. And gods, I’m already in too deep, so I might as well make it worse.

“I’m full of myself, Luna. Always have been. Cocky. Loud. Hot as hell. But you—you made me feelsmall.And I liked it.”

There’s a long pause. Too long.

Then she steps in, close enough that I smell whatever storm she walked through to get here. Her voice is low, a thread pulled tight.

“You know you’re not supposed to say things like that to me unless you plan on meaning them tomorrow.”

I grin, crooked. “Babe, I’ll mean it so hard tomorrow I might have to marry you out of spite.”

She rolls her eyes—but the corner of her mouth twitches.

Small victory. I’ll take it.

Then she shoves me, lightly, fingers to my chest. “Go annoy someone else.”

I stumble back a step, mock-wounded, but the warmth in my chest is real.

And I don’t say anything else. I just walk beside her, quiet for once, because this isn’t a moment for jokes. This is a moment forher.And I’d rather stand in silence with her than laugh without her any day.

I don’t mean to say it. That’s the worst part. It just slips out, right there, somewhere between the squelch of wet boots and her hand brushing against mine without looking like it means anything. But gods, itmeans everything.

And I say it like it’s a joke.

“I love you so much, it’s actually disgusting. Like—objectively. If I were anyone else, I’d be throwing up.”

She doesn’t stop walking, but I see it—the way her shoulders shift, how her hand twitches like she’s deciding whether to smack me or kiss me. Both valid.

I keep going, because I’ve already committed to the bit, and Elias Dain doesn’t walk away from emotional catastrophe. He doubles down until everyone’s embarrassed.

“I didn’t even know you could love someonethismuch. Honestly, I’m pissed about it. You’ve ruined me. I used to be cool. Untouchable. Women wept when I ghosted them. I had a reputation.”

Luna turns her head slowly, brow raised like she’s preparing the verbal guillotine.

“Hadbeing the key word,” she says dryly.

I clutch my chest, theatrically wounded. “And now look at me. Monogamish. Emotionally fragile. One bad day away from writing you a poem and setting it on fire.”

Her lips twitch. And there it is. That small shift. That almost-smile. The one that means I’m allowed to keep talking, even if I shouldn’t.

But I can’t leave it at the joke. Not this time.

I take a breath, steadying myself with the kind of sincerity I usually only let surface when she’s half asleep, curled against my side, too soft and too real for the world to touch.

“But seriously,” I say, voice lower now, rhythm slower. “After that place—the village—I just... I needed you to know.”

She watches me. Not blinking. Not saving me.

I gesture vaguely at the trail behind us. “All those girls. All that shit. It got in my head. Made me remember how I used to be. And how fucking easy it was tonot care.To let people fall in love with versions of me I never planned to keep.”

She doesn’t speak. And that’s worse.

I scrub a hand down my face, letting out a breath like I’m bleeding it. “But you, Luna—gods, you make mewantto be the man they all thought I was. You make me hate every part of me that wasted love like it wasn’t worth anything.”