“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” I muttered even though it was true.

He ignored that. “I threatened you—I threatened you more than once.” His gaze lowered, and when he spoke, his voice cracked. “I had my hands around your neck. I can’t unsee that.”

My heart wept as I leaned in, pressing my forehead to his. “You are not at fault, Zayne. You have to understand that, and you have to realize what you did do. You could’ve hurt me bad. You could’ve killed me at any point, and you didn’t. That’s because you were in there, right? It was you who stopped. It was you who showed up and killed that Ghoul and it was you who came to the rooftop.”

“I dropped you in a pool.”

“I’ll probably punch you for that when you least expect it, but it was you in that pool with me. It was you and whatever you’d become after Falling, and I was there, too. You didn’t do those things to me. We did those things together because I knew you were in there,” I told him. “You might not have known why at the time, but you made sure neither you nor anything else hurt me. You even warned me to stay away from you. You said that—”

“What was in me would hurt you. It would’ve. Eventually I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. Hell, when you trapped me, I wanted at you.” His eyes searched mine. “And that part of me was growing stronger every hour.”

“And it was that part that wanted to throw me around?” I slipped my fingers into his hair. “I mean, I can get pretty annoying, so that’s probably not the first time.”

“It was.” He shuddered. “Even when you are being especially annoying.”

“I know.” Of course I did. I could probably kick Zayne in the face, and he would sigh with disappointment. Why? Because he was good to the core. I leaned back so that I could see his face. “But that part of you that was still in there stopped it from happening. That is all that matters. That is all that can matter. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you were given back your Glory—an angelic soul—and you Fell for me. I don’t know if I should punch you or kiss you. You gave up being an actual angel to be with me. You Fell, taking a huge risk, to be with me, and you’re here. You came back to me.”