“You-you w-were so…cruel…” I objected.
His gaze fell to the floor. Head hanging in clear shame. “I was, Mary.”
He lifted his head and those fierce green eyes landed on me severely. “Never again. There’ll never be a reason for me to be anything but what I want to be.”
“And what is that?”
“Next to you. Kind to you.”
“That’s what you want?” I blinked at him.
“It’s all I ever wanted. It was just impossible. If they saw how weak I was with you, they’d have eaten you alive.”
“Especially Tanya.” I agreed. Realizing the precarious position he’d been in. The thin line he’d had to walk.
Too cruel and they’d have crumbled.
Too kind and he’d have been too weak to lead.
It renewed my respect for what he’d done. For he’d been the Second in Command for as long as I could r
