He looked at her. “You want to break up?”

“I don’t know,” she said, defiance rising in her voice. “If you don’t stop complaining all the damn time, maybe I do.”

“Be careful.”

“Of what? Of hurting your feelings? Because you’re so delicate?”

“Be careful of saying something you won’t be able to take back. You’re angry. You’re not thinking right.”

“I’m thinking fine, Fletcher. Maybe we should break up. Maybe we need a change. We’ve been together for too long as it is. We should have broken up ages ago.”

He shook his head. “You’re angry. You don’t mean it.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you don’t. Stop being so bloody silly.”

“Silly?” she snapped. “Silly? You don’t say that to me. You don’t get to say that to me. We’re breaking up, Fletcher. We’re through.”

“Wait a second, OK? Calm down. Think about it. This is heat of the moment stuff. You don’t mean any of it.”

“Heat of the moment? This isn’t heat of the moment, this has been building for a while. I’ve wanted to break up with you for a long time, I just didn’t realise it. You think we’re good together, do you? You think we’re a happy little boyfriend and a good little girlfriend? Well, I’m not a good little girlfriend.”

“Val, just take a breath, count to ten—”

“I’ve been seeing Caelan behind your back.”

Fletcher froze, and Valkyrie instantly regretted it. More than regretted it. She hated it. She hated the words she’d just said. She hated the look on Fletcher’s face. She hated herself. She wanted to claw it all back, to scrub it all away, but it was out, it was in the open, and she was talking again, saying something, she didn’t know what, but she shut up when he looked at her.

He said, “What?” in a dull, dull voice.

There was something in her chest that stopped her from speaking. She had tears in her eyes. She was crying. When was the last time she’d cried? He looked at her and all his questions were answered. His face changed.

“I thought you loved me,” he said.

“Fletcher, I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know… I’m not sure…”

“You must know. You must. You always know what you’re doing. You always know why you do things. It’s how you’re able to be right all the time. It’s where you get all this confidence from, the fact that you are the one who is always right. So why did you do it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying. You know exactly why you did it.”

“Fletcher, it’s not important.”