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She’s safe

She’s still in front ofup at the beautiful tapestries on the wall like she’s re what it felt like the first time she walked these halls

I clear my throat “Are you okay?”

She glances at me over her shoulder, and her mouth twists “You already asked me that”

I nod

More aard silence

Butbut silent

It wants to screas I have for her

But I don’t think it’s the right time for that when she just came back here

Harper draws in a sharp breath It sounds allisten in her eyes

“My mother—”

She can’t even get through that before the full weight of everything she’s experienced since we left co down on her

It floors her

I hear the twin thunk-thunk of Harper’s tre the marbled floor

And then her sobs

Gut-wrenching, full-bodied sobs consume her It’s the only sound in the whole house

That, and the crystalline splash of her tears striking the floor

“Harper…” I growl

Then I do the only thing I can do Sinking to my knees in front of her, I put a hand on either side of her face and force her to look at me

She’s as beautiful as she was the very first time I laid eyes on her in that club Every bit as fierce Every bit as proud

But she’s cruedies she shouldn’t have to bear alone

So I tell her that

“I’m here,” I whisper in a low rasp “You’re not alone anymore”

And then I kiss her As natural as breathing,I’ve ever known

Her ainst

At first, she’s tentative

But as the clock in the corner chimes out in slow seconds, she opens to it Her lips part, and s to ers desperately