Page 108 of Corrupting his Duchess
That was something.
“I do not want to make excuses,” he said. “Nor do I expect forgiveness. But if I could do one thing right– it would be this. To come back. To say it. All of it.”
Now she turned.
Not fully. But enough to face him.
“What changed?” she asked.
“Because I was a coward.”
The answer came too fast, too raw.
He steadied himself.
“I do not pretend I can mend what was broken,” he said after a moment. “I do not think I can,” he said. “But again, I should like to at least make it right.”
She said nothing.
“You once told me I made you feel safe,” he continued quietly. “Then permit me to do what I ought to have done long before now. Allow me the honor of being your defender– your ally– when you cannot be your own.”
She didn’t respond.
He continued anyway. “Let me take responsibility for what I broke. Let me be the one who stands in front of you when you can’t fight, the one who– ”
“I am not in need of a defender,” she replied, too swiftly. “Not now.”
“No,” he nodded. “But I am in need of doing so.”
She looked up at him then, cautious, uncertain.
“I need to know you are protected,” he said. “That when the world turns cruel…and it will…I will be the man who speaks when you are silenced. Who sees you when others choose not to.”
“I failed you,” he said at last. “And still… you are all I think of.”
Anna’s arms were crossed now. Not defensive, just keeping herself upright.
“Why now?” she asked. “Why only after all this?”
“Because I was afraid,” he said. “Because I have learnt all my life that to care is to be weak. That caring is a risk. That to let someone in is to surrender control. And I thought if I kept you at a distance, you would be safe.” A pause. “But you weren’t.”
He took a breath. “And neither was I.”
Her voice was quieter now. “You said affection was a weakness.”
“I was wrong.”
“You walked away from me,” she whispered. “You made me feel like I imagined it all.”
“I know,” he said. “And I hate myself every day for it.”
She looked at him like she wanted to believe him, but didn’t dare.
“I thought wanting you made me vulnerable. But not wanting you was worse.”
She turned her head. Something trembled at the corner of her mouth.
“I am not a liability,” she said.
