Ellie's words hung in the air like a razor-sharp blade pressed against my throat, each syllable slicing through the tension that coiled tightly between us.
"If I'm bait, then let me choose how to be used."
Every instinct in me screamed to lock her away, to keep her as far from this seething chaos as humanly possible. But the fierce determination burning in her eyes held me in place. That steady, unwavering, ablaze with a spirit that eclipsed even the fiercest fear.
"You don't know what you're asking for, Ellie," I said, my voice low and rough, like gravel underfoot. "These people don't play fair, and they will do their best to take every inch of you, bleed it dry."
Ellie stood firm, a stone in the tempest. "Then I'll fight not to give them that inch."
God, she was reckless, so bravely reckless, and yet, a startling truth pierced through my panic. She was already enmeshed in this storm, and every threat that I faced inscribed her name in the margins.
To pretend otherwise was a cruel fiction.
I raked a hand through my hair, frustration boiling beneath the surface as I glared in the direction of where my father had fallen silent. "You don't get it, Ellie. I can't risk losing you."
Her voice softened, but her chin lifted in a defiant affirmation. "And I can't risk losing you, too, Tristan. So stop treating me like I'll break just because I wasn't born into your world."
Her words struck me harder than I'd ever admit, reverberating through me like thunder. For the first time in years, I felt the earth shift beneath my feet, not from the danger, but from the exhilarating possibility of allowing someone to truly stand beside me.
-
His eyes were dark pools, swirling with fury and fear, and for a brief moment, I glimpsed the boy beneath the armour, the boy who was weighed down by burdens too heavy for his young soul, who believed love was another chain meant to strangle him.
"Tristan," I whispered, stepping closer, bridging the distance until I could almost feel the tension radiating from his taut jaw. "You're not the only one allowed to fight. If this is the life you were born into, then loving you means I can't stand outside it."
He cursed under his breath, gripping the table like a lifeline, as if letting go would send him spiralling into the void.
"Ellie," his voice cracked, just barely, but enough to twist something profound within me. "If anything happens to you because of me..."
"Then it's because I chose this too," I interjected, surprising myself with the fierce strength that rang in my voice. "You don't have the right to take away my choice and don't cast me as a shadow in your life when I could be the light you fight for."
For a long, charged moment, he stared at me, his chest rising and falling as if he were holding back an impending storm. Then, slowly, he reached for me, his hand trembling as it brushed against mine, sending a jolt of electricity through the air.
"You'll be the death of me, Ellie," he muttered, a half-hearted accusation veiled in desperation.
"Or the reason you survived," I replied, my own resolve hardening.
Behind us, the faint but ominous sound of footsteps echoed down the hall, heavy and deliberate, nothing like the soft tread of family members.
Tristan's head snapped up, his eyes narrowing into focused slits of intensity. He pulled me close, his body wrapping around me like a protective shield.
The danger wasn't just looming near,; it was already here.