Cecilia couldn’t make sense of him.

Why did Nathaniel keep circling back to this idea that he had “failed to protect” her?

“I already told you,” she said, her voice edged with helplessness. “It was nothing. Just a small cut on my neck. It’s over.”

Something shifted in Nathaniel’s expression—sharp, sudden.

“Ceci… when you said only your neck was hurt… nothing else happened?” he asked carefully.

She nodded without hesitation. “Yeah. What else would there be?”

That was the moment it clicked.