Chapter 71: Good As New

While August remained nestled in Graeme's chest, he craned his head back to kiss the top of her head. "How are you so calm now? I-I was going to tell you…" he trailed off, unable to bring himself to paint the past in words for her. He felt her shrug in his arms.

"It's hard to explain. It's just out now," she said quietly. "I don't want to talk about it tonight, if that's okay." Honestly, she was just exhausted after all of it.

"You know I've never felt this way before, August. She wasn't my mate. You are. Please understand that," he said, gripping her tighter. "This is entirely different."

August sighed, more drained by his words. He was talking about it when she had asked him not to. And while what he said was true, it didn't erase the tragedy of Violet's feelings. Violet was broken. August let go of Graeme and hopped down before she could dwell more on the empathy hangover now hovering in her mind.

"Let's go back," she said quietly.