The question hung in the air. Harry closed his eyes, finally allowing himself to acknowledge what he'd been fighting for weeks.

"I've fallen for her, James," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know when it happened, but it did. And now she's gone, thinking I betrayed her with Selen, and I can't even tell her the truth."

"The truth being?"

"That I love her. That I've never felt this way about anyone before. That the thought of her out there alone is killing me." The words ...