It was real.

[That comes with no silence in between. No hesitation. Nothing. Just her honest, true answer.

For fuck's sake, for the longest time, all she wanted was to rub that fact in his face. That what they had was real and that he had let go of it was something she would have gladly chewed up and spat back out at him. Make him feel that paralyzing regret that she felt. Overcome him with guilt. What has he done to her?

But as she looks at him, he is just as tired as she is. Just as broken down by these lies that she now wishes she could stomp out of her heart. Rip it from herself and break it until it's all gone. Instead, her fingers tremble, that anger coming to the surface as the wind rattles at his window, but she reaches for that pendant around her neck.]

I...

[Loved you, is what she wishes she could say, but the words die just as fast as they formed on the edge of her tongue.]

I let you go because I was afraid, Cidolfus. Not just... of what might happen, but because I thought I'd already lost you. I was... angry.