Chapter 23 - Hadrian Gets Old Enough to Stop Defending HimselfI was sixty-two when Sorrel asked me to coffee.
She paid.
That worried me.
“You're getting old,” she said.
“Cruel.”
“You were forty when you found me.”
“Yes.”
“Do you still blame yourself?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
“Enough to remember. Not enough to pretend I chained you.”
She nodded.
Then:
“I blamed you for years.”
“I know.”
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“I needed you.”
“Yes.”
No excuses.
Then she surprised me.
“I also know you came back.”
My throat tightened.
“That doesn't erase what happened.”
“No.”
“But it matters.”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“You cry more now.”
“Old-man tear ducts.”
She laughed.
Then asked:
“Did you ever love Aurelia?”
“Before I knew?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean you didn't really love her?”
“No.”
She thought about it.
“Good.”
Real love can exist before knowledge.
Betrayal does not rewrite every good memory that came before it.
It changes what those memories mean.
May you like
Trust was broken.
That was different.
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