Her voice didn't waver. "When did it change?"
The carriage had rolled to a gentle stop in front of their cottage but neither of them noticed. The world beyond the wooden panels might as well have ceased to exist.
Ragnar turned fully toward her. He wanted to tell her that it changed the moment he realized he had fallen for her, when he found himself yearning hopelessly for a woman who, at the time, hated everything about him. He wanted to confess that he had stopped seeing her as a pawn when he began craving even the smallest scraps of her affection, when the thought of existing in a world without her approval became unbearable. He wanted to admit that it was when her laughter had become something he chased, that making her smile felt like his proudest achievement.
But when he opened his mouth, none of those words emerged.
