“Don’t chide yourself for that, lass. Falling apart is part of healing. We fall to pieces so we can build ourselves anew, because sometimes the pain changes us so much that we can’t ever again be who we were before.” He opened his mouth to say something else, then closed it. What could he say to reassure her when he didn’t know what exactly had done this to her?
She crawled over to him, so he sat where he was and pulled her into his arms, perching her on one thigh with her legs in his lap and her arms hooked around his waist. It struck him how easily she fit into him—so tiny, and at the moment, frighteningly fragile. He was under no delusions about her strength and stubborn self-reliance; she was the kind to keep things to herself as best she could until she trusted someone, and the fact
