The moment you chose to fake your death, you died in my heart too.
I didn't say it out loud.
But I knew he understood.
I looked at him. My gaze was flat and still, like dead water without a single ripple.
He couldn't say anything after that.
Guilt crept over him, inch by inch, until it swallowed him whole. He stood abruptly, as if he couldn't bear to face me a second longer.
"I'm going to check on Adrian Winslow."
He was practically fleeing when he walked out of the room.
I followed the doctor's orders and rested quietly in the hospital for a few days.
The day I was discharged, Don Hale called all of us before him.
He beckoned to me and had me sit beside him. The amber rosary bead between his thumb and forefinger turned once, then stopped.
"Adrian. Today is All Souls' Day. Go see Julian Frost one last time."
When he said it, his eyes held a sorrow and a guilt he couldn't hide.
He gave Julian and Adrian Winslow a few instructions after that, and then let us go.
The compound staff loaded the memorial offerings into the car.
We were about to get in when Adrian Winslow suddenly said she'd forgotten something and turned back toward the estate.