[Music recommendation: Sophie Hutchings - Dreaming The Stars]
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"Would you have listened to me?" Gavriel asked softly, searching her eyes. "No... were you even capable of listening then, when I reached out to you, Ana? Do you truly believe I derived joy from watching you tear yourself apart? From watching you flee from me as if I were nothing more than a beast out for your blood?"
Aliana found herself striking a sudden wall of silence, her throat tightening so completely that no reply could surface.
Gavriel shook his head slowly. "No," he murmured, answering his own question before sliding his hands from her cheeks. The sudden loss of his touch left her skin feeling strangely cold as he shifted backwards on the mattress.
