Meadow’s POV:

That had to be what that was.

An excuse.

A dumb, far-stretched one, but an excuse nonetheless.

Because there was no way… no damn way Alaric was serious about this.

“Meadow,” he said, voice softening. “I’m not making excuses. I’m not scared of loving you either, I’m just… aware… and fucking terrified that you’d hate me.”

I stared at him, still waiting for him to tell me that he was just joking. But the expression on his face told me everything that I ...