The Mate They Rejected
"Ms. Isla told me. In case somebody gets hurt and needs it fast."
"That's right."
"So, nobody gets forgotten," Oliver finished, satisfied, and went back to his syrup.
Responsibility. Systems. People kept safe by structures nobody else bothered to notice. I didn't say any of that out loud.
I didn't have to.
It sat in my chest the way certain resemblances always did—quiet, unspoken, entirely his own even if I recognized the shape of it.
"I found an owl," Remy cut in, unable to hold it any longer. "A baby one. In the aviary. It hurt its wing, and it's staying there until it's better."