The air in the room thickened, saturated with the metallic tang of dried blood and the suffocating weight of truths that had been buried far too long.
Mathias pulled her into his embrace, his arms creating a silent, unyielding sanctuary for her. He could feel the frantic, fractured rhythm of her heart hammering against his chest—the pulse of a woman who spent every waking moment fleeing from the shadows of her own soul.
He knew then that this was no a vow of love, though it wore love's skin. He still did not fully grasp why she clung to the task of protecting him with such savage, desperate ferocity, but he felt the jagged edges of her fear.
He leaned in, his warm breath a stark contrast to the deathly chill of her skin, and spoke with a low, devastating growl that seemed to vibrate through the very marrow of her bones.
"Olivia... I am here, and I will always be with you," he whispered, his voice a tether in the dark. "I will be your eyes if that is what you desire."
