379 A Shift in Power

~ ASH ~

We never moved from the bed. She took my hand in both of hers and held it while I described to her what I'd heard, what I thought was happening.

It melted my heart the way she drew strength from me. I'd never spoken my feelings, or breached propriety. But it was growing hard and harder not to show her tenderness.

She made me… gentle in a way I had never experienced. She was the strangest combination of timid and steel. Always terrified of what the world would do to her—especially its men. And yet, in moments like this when there was no option but to face danger, she raised her chin and met it without flinching.

I knew the terror that rocked through her at even the slightest hint of a threat. And yet, she'd expressed her utter trust in me to keep her safe.