"I was going to tell you. When I was healed enough that you wouldn't panic...."
"I'm panicking now! Because I walked in on you bleeding instead of hearing it from you!" Eve crossed her arms, hugging herself. "We're supposed to be partners, Dimitri. Partners don't lie. Partners don't hide. Partners trust each other enough to handle the truth."
"I do trust you....."
"No, you don't." The words were quiet. Final. "You trust me to love you. To support you. To stand by you. But you don't trust me to be strong enough to handle your reality. You still think I'm fragile. That I need to be protected."
"You're not fragile," Dimitri said immediately. "That's not why...."
"Then why?" Eve looked at him, her eyes red and swollen. "Why do you keep shutting me out of the parts that matter?"
Dimitri opened his mouth. Closed it.
Because she was right.
He had been shutting her out.
Protecting her from the darkness because he was terrified of losing her to it.
