“I forgive you. And I’m sorry, too. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to put so much on you. After I was suspended, I was so scared I wasn’t thinking straight. I just couldn’t give up on Byers, and I was so worried you’d be next. There was a part of me that still—”

Una winced. “You don’t have to say it.”

“I need to. Not talking about it never made it go away, as much as you wanted otherwise. I still loved you, Una.”

“I know,” she said hoarsely. “But I never could have given you what you needed.”

No, she couldn’t have. For weeks now, she’d known that. At Colwick Hall, she’d been too busy to think much of Una—and when she did, she realized, it wasn’t with the same lovesick pining she’d felt in Danu. Wren still loved her. Just not in the same way anymore.

“I know that now,” Wren said. “I just wish we could have had this conversation sooner.”

“I was a coward.” Una bowed her head. “I always believed nothing scared me until … Wanting you made me more vulnerable than I was ready to be. Maybe it makes me selfish, but with the fraternization laws, I couldn’t put you before my job.”

“I understand.”

Just like that, everything between them was laid bare. The horrible tangle of hurt and anger and confusion between them tugged a little looser. Wren thought she could see a wobble in the firm line of Una’s mouth.

The day Una cries, I will crumble. The whole world might.

“That settles it,” Una said gruffly. “We’ve both done wrong. We’re moving past it.”

Wren knocked their knees together. “Although if we’re quantifying this, technically I’ve done worse. I probably broke every article in Danu’s Code of Military Justice.”

Una snorted a laugh before catching herself. She lifted her shoulder and brushed it across her lips, as if she could wipe her smile off. “I missed you.”

Wren couldn’t help but grin back. “I missed you, too. Friends again?”

“Friends again.”

Warmth bloomed within Wren’s chest, sparkling and light. But almost immediately, Una’s expression hardened again. She stood and extended her hand into the space between them. “As much as I’d love to properly catch up, we have a war criminal to free.”

Wren took her hand, and as Una pulled her to her feet, she felt as though she were emerging from frigid waters. All her doubt, all her hurt, streamed off in heavy rivulets. Everything still ached, but with Una at her side, Wren felt as if she could truly breathe again.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE