Amara's POV

I wanted to believe him. I really did but as Cassian spoke, his words came out too smooth, too perfectly measured, like every sentence had already been rehearsed. There was a calmness to his tone that didn’t sit right with me, a kind of practiced steadiness that made it impossible to tell whether he was being honest or just saying what he thought I wanted to hear and maybe that was what hurt the most.

Because deep down, I wanted to trust him. I wanted to believe that everything ...