She was the reason for everything, and so she went to safety first, before I allowed myself the smaller satisfaction of facing the man who had put her at risk.

Only when she was warm, and asleep, and out of earshot, did I let the reckoning begin.

Chapter 18 — So I Did

I walked up to Julian slowly, and I stopped close to him, close enough that what I said next would be for him alone, and I found that my voice, when it came, held no anger at all.

Anger would have implied he still had power over my feelings.