There was a truth on the tip of her tongue, and she was afraid to speak lest it fall out into the open. She looked at him and would not let herself give in to the insistent pressure of those words against her lips. He was not ready. She was not ready. It hurt to keep her feelings inside, expanding the seams of her heart to a nigh-unbearable pain, but the pain of losing Raphael could only be infinitely worse.

So she would keep her truth secret and she would keep it safe until the world returned to its senses, and she would be free to feel without fear of loss.

"Evie," he said softly.