“You shielded him.” His voice was tight, low—like every word cost him.

He looked at you like it hurt to say it. Like you’d punched him in a place he thought was untouchable. “Threw yourself in front of him like he mattered.”

Kaz’s jaw clenched, sharp as the blades he carried, his gaze hardening into something colder than ice.

“But when it’s me…”

He stepped closer, voice dropping, dark and dangerous.

“…you draw your knives.”

There it was—the bitter truth, the raw wound. He wasn’t just the enemy you fought against. He was the one you feared to let in. But maybe… maybe that was about to change.