Chapter 51

Kavan’s POV

Wide with terror, her eyes fastened on me, a mute cry for aid painted on her face. Her heart's frenzied pulse resonated in the little storeroom, a mirror reflecting the anarchy whirl inside my own chest. Guilt turned my insides into a stark, agonizing reminder of the catastrophe I had brought us into.

Holding her and looking for a way to shield her from the approaching conflict in my head. I wanted to murmur words of consolation and reassurance to help her to clear the anxiety carved on her lovely face. But Mrs. Pott's unrelenting approach, each one a hammer strike to my gut, kept me back.

Rather, I reached out, cupping her cheek, my palm shaking with a mix of want and fear. Her delicate skin, like silk under my rough hands, stood in sharp contrast to the storm inside me. My hand followed the delicate curve of her jawline, a silent apologies for the risk I had carried her into. My words were merely a breath on her flesh: "It's going to be okay." The words ought to have ca