“I never expected you to change anything,” he admitted, voice rough. “I prepared for shared space, not shared life.” Mara didn’t flinch at the truth. She simply nodded, as if she’d suspected it. “I didn’t come to be endured,” she said softly. “I came to belong.”
Those words demanded a choice. Elijah had built his life avoiding choices that involved other people. It was easier to decide for himself alone, easier to be the only one who could be disappointed. But now, lying there while Mara changed his bandages and kept the fire fed, Elijah understood something he hadn’t wanted to admit.
Pushing people away was not strength. It was fear dressed up like pride. As his strength returned, spring fully claimed the mountain. Wildflowers pushed through thawed soil, fragile and stubborn. The air smelled of wet earth and possibility
