Where Soft Light Shines Darkness Fades From Tired Hearts by Evan Holt Crane 392

Alaina pointed a finger right at Wilmot’s nose. “The Ironthorns is being ruined by old relics like you! Cassian could mate with the Moon Goddess herself and he’d still end up severed just to get away from your attitude!”

Wynn chimed in with a quiet mumble from the back. “Seriously. Trista was fine at Shadowfang; she didn’t ask Cassian to jump in front of a blade for her. He’s the one who wanted to play the hero. He signed up for his pain, Dad, so stop making it everyone else’s problem.”

Cassian shot Wynn a lethal look, and she quickly ducked behind her mother.

Wilmot’s pulse was practically visible in his neck. “All of you, shut up!” he roared like an aging, cornered wolf. “My son spilled enough blood to fill a bucket. If Silverlight doesn’t give us an explanation for this, we’re going to war!”

Trista had been standing silently outside the room the entire time. Hearing Wilmot’s threats, she felt a wave of pure disgust.

Cassian had obviously shown his face in that video last night to use his father as leverage against her.

She waited for them to clear out before pushing the door open.

eyes

Cassian was propped up against the headboard. As she approached, the exhaustion in his was nstantly replaced by a sharp, heavy intensity.

The second she reached the bed, Cassian’s voice cracked with a jagged question. “Do you have any idea how dangerous last night was?”

Trista just shrugged, not saying a word.

Her “I don’t care” attitude set his temper off. “Trista, do you even know Alistair? Do you have any clue how deep the shadows go at Shadowfang? You have parents. You have a little brother who just finished his exams. What gives you the right to gamble with your life like that!”

His voice shook with raw emotion. “If I hadn’t made it last night… if something had happened to you, what was I supposed to tell your family?!”

He stared at her, and the words he’d been burying finally erupted in a shout, “Do you have any idea how terrified I was that I’d lose you?!”

Trista listened to the outburst without a single flicker of emotion.

When the room finally fell silent again, she looked him dead in the eye.

“Cassian, listening to you say that is actually hilarious.”

Her voice was like dry ice, “You’re the one who told me that in this world, nobody gives a damn if I live or die except my parents–and that included you.”

2:07 pm D

Finished

She let out a dry, self–deprecating laugh. “Back when I was so desperate I was holding a knife to my own throat, begging you not to go see Samantha, you didn’t even blink. You didn’t care if I died right then and there. Now you’ve taken a couple of shallow stabs and you want to play the devoted protector? Give me a break.”

Mentioning the past was like poking a dormant volcano.

Those memories were burns branded into her very DNA; she’d never be able to wash them off.

Her words became invisible fangs, sharper than any rogue’s blade, tearing away the last shred of Cassian’s Alpha pride.

As her emotions surged, her signature herbal scent fractured, replaced by a wave of grief and finality that flooded the small room.

The heartbreak in her pheromones made Cassian’s chest seize. Ignoring the agonizing pain of his stitches tearing, he forced himself to the edge of the bed.

Like a beggar reaching for a scrap of warmth in the ruins, he tentatively grabbed her arm.

His eyes–usually full of predatory fire–were bloodshot and rimmed with red. “I know I messed up,” he whispered, his voice a broken plea. “I promise it’ll never happen again. Let’s just leave the past in the old territory. Let’s start over, okay?”

Start over?

Trista felt the heat of his hand on her arm, but all she felt inside was a bone–deep chill.

She let out a cold laugh. Because she was so worked up, her pupils flashed with the faint, ghostly glow unique to the Silverlight bloodline.

She stared him down. “If the roles were reversed–if you were the one who got marked and discarded over and over–could you just forget it?”

Cassian ground his teeth, his hands white–knuckled as he gripped the edge of the bed. The scent of fresh blood grew stronger as he pushed himself too hard,

He looked her in the eyes, his voice a hoarse wreck. “Whether you believe me or not… the only reason I said those things back then was because I knew you. I knew you had that Silverlight grit in your blood. I knew you wouldn’t actually do anything stupid, so I thought I could get away with-”

He stopped, his throat working hard. Under Trista’s increasingly icy stare, his voice simply died out.

“So, even now, you think as long as I’m still breathing, the torture you put me through didn’t matter?”

Trista cut him off. Her aura shifted from anger to a dead, hollow calm. This silence terrified him more than her rage ever could.

“You ignored my despair and treated my feelings like a nuisance. And you call that ‘knowing you messed up‘?”

Cassian felt the strength drain out of him. He had nothing left to say.

2:07 pm DDVD

。༠:།

Finished

The wreckage of their past was a canyon between them, and no matter how powerful an Alpha he was, he couldn’t jump across a hole he had dug himself.

。

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Sara Lili

Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.