“You shouldn’t, you shouldn’t,” she couldn’t stop repeating, through her own sobs. He held her tighter, but she didn’t want to protest; the feeling of being safe was far too welcome. She wished with all her heart she could believe that this would last beyond his fright at her desperate idea, but past experience told her differently. Once he was past the immediate fear, things would go back to the way they always were, and she would be alone again.
Still.
She clung to him, to that strong body wrapped around her own, and cried until her nose was red and her throat was raw. “Why?” she managed to ask, somewhere in there.
“Because you are my dear, dear friend. You will always be.” His eyes were shut tight. “You are good. You are loved. We’re going to move you to my side of the castle, okay? You can get a room right by all the rooms of your friends. I have been so afraid, so afraid of my own guilt at not being there, afraid of what I hadn’t done, afraid of how you might feel, and I was selfish, selfish, I’m so sorry, my friend. You are good, beautiful, my friend.”
Blindly, drowning in his loyalty and caring, Summer held on to Percival. She didn’t have either the heart or the energy to say no, to tell him that she couldn’t quite believe him. He believed, so strongly, all she could do was nod, helplessly. “It’s not your fault,” she managed to say. And, “If you think it will help.”
But the drop behind her still beckoned.