I expected it in them. Flowers in fields are pleasant enough, but they are nothing to one in a blasted land where nothing grows.

[ Her hand slides from his hair to his cheek, to his shoulder again. ]

And more than that: you chose it. You could have let him make you the casually cruel creature I assumed you would be. You did not. Just as you did not let the men of your family rot you, nor the work you have done for your Crown.

Perhaps the casing is cracked, but... it became so in the service of protecting something precious.

[ She shakes her head; smiles, small and hopeful that one day she will say it and he will believe her. ]

You have never let them take your heart, Byerly, and it was your heart I loved. Love now.