I woke before Cassian. I lay still and thought about what happened. Waited for regret.

It didn't come.

What came instead was something larger and more frightening: the specific vulnerability of having wanted something and then gotten it and now having to live in the world where that was true.

For months, I'd been careful around him.

Careful about where I stood.

Careful about how long I looked at him.

Careful about the bond, because acknowledging it felt like giving Cain another weapon ...