He couldn’t comprehend that for a moment, and then his stomach lurched and dropped two floors. “You— You and Sybilla?”

“No, Jess, that’s not what I mean at all.” Morgan’s hand dropped away and he felt terribly, icily cold now. He felt her move away. The hallway was starting to reveal itself to him in shadows and highlights of dark gray, and he could see her now, just a shape. A cipher. “She was kind to me. She was the only one, at first, and we spent time together. She liked me. I didn’t realize—I didn’t realize at first that she felt more for me than that.” The pain of that was still there in her voice, and he almost winced. “And when I did, I didn’t know what to say, except that I—I couldn’t be with her. I felt awful about it; I think she saw me as . . . as a refuge from Iskander. But it was never . . . I never . . .” This time there was no doubt she was crying; he could hear the agonized hitch of her breath. “Oh God, Jess. I didn’t tell her I was running. I left her here alone. You betrayed me, and I betrayed her. I should have at least tried to help her get out of here, too. I knew she was just as desperate!”

He still felt light-headed; his heart was pounding so hard it hurt. “It wasn’t your fault. You felt you had to help us with Thomas. You know that.”

“It was more than that. I was running away from Dominic, too, that night,” she said. “We both try to do the right thing, don’t we? But no matter what we do, it keeps coming out wrong.”

He put his arms around her, and after a second of stiffness, she collapsed against him. He kissed her cheek, and she put her arms around his neck and held him tightly. “I love you,” she whispered to him. “I never stopped, Jess—I want you to know that. I just—I just felt so alone here, and the only person I could blame was you.”

She loves me. She still loves me. That brought him a stunned kind of peace. “Forgive me?”

She kissed him gently on the lips. Sweet and a little sad. “I did already,” she said. “Now go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He was unexpectedly tired, he realized as he headed back to his room, but there was no chance to rest yet. Wolfe’s door was open, and Khalila, Thomas, and Santi were in with him. They all looked up when he passed, and Wolfe said, “Brightwell. In.”

Jess took up a leaning spot on the wall. Wolfe paced, of course, as was his usual habit. Khalila and Thomas sat, quietly watching him. Santi poured Jess a cup of wine, and Jess took a sip before he asked, “So, what’s this?”