Claire's POV
I didn't mean to say that out loud. The words slipped before I could stop them, and the silence that followed felt heavier than anything I had ever known. I had seen how much Evander was hurt after he found out about the loss of our child. At first, I thought he wouldn't care. I thought he would stay cold and indifferent, as he always seemed to be.
But that night, when I saw him burning with fever, everything changed. He looked so fragile, so broken, and then later he confessed his love to me. I realized he must have been in as much pain as I was, maybe even more.
I had misjudged him. Behind his cold demeanor was a man drowning in grief, just like me. For the first time, I saw his pain— not just in his words, but in the way his hands trembled and the way his voice cracked when he spoke my name.
In that moment, I couldn't help but wonder: had I been blind to his love all along, or had he hidden it too well?
