I AM THE ONLY PERSON THE VILLAIN CANNOT KILL
She thought of the three men now lying dead in the street before her, their own countdowns surely erased the moment their hearts had stopped.
"Why do you keep protecting me?" she asked quietly, the question she had been circling for days finally breaking free. "You don't know me. Not really. Not the version of me standing in front of you right now. And yet you've killed for me twice in as many days, without hesitation, without asking anything in return."
Kael wiped his blade clean on the coat of one of the fallen men before sheathing it, his movements slow and deliberate, as though giving himself time to find the right words. "Because I failed the last time," he said finally.