I took a step closer, my shadow falling over him. "And Ophelia. Your wife. She's four months pregnant, Caelen. She's carrying your second child, and she's been sitting by your bed for three days without food or sleep. They're both waiting for you to open your eyes. And you're hiding here. Like a coward."
Caelen finally looked up. His eyes were hollow, filled with a pain so vast it seemed to swallow the light. "I don't want to leave. This is the only place… the only place where I get to live what I truly wanted. After I lost it. After I lost you with my own foolishness."
He let out a choked, wet laugh. "Here, I don't have to face what I've done. I don't have to see the hurt in your eyes every time I walk into a room. I don't have to live with the regret of knowing I was the one who broke us."
"You need to accept what happened," I said, my voice unwavering. "It's the only way to heal. The only way to move on for the sake of the people who still need you."
