Liona's POV
He pulled his fist back.
The gold in his eyes had not faded. It was still there, burning at the edges of the grey, and he was looking at me the way people looked at things they genuinely could not make sense of. Not angry exactly. More like someone who had encountered something that did not fit any category they had prepared for.
"You would throw yourself in front of a wall of stone," he said. "For her."
"I would do a lot more than that," I replied.
He studied my face. Not quickly. With the particular patience of someone who was used to taking their time with things because they had always had enough of it. His gold eyes moved across my face like he was reading something written there.
"She has done something to you," he said. "Twisted your thinking. Made you believe her life is worth more than your own."
"Nobody made me do anything." I kept my arms out. My back against the rocks. "I chose this. I choose it every time."
