“Idiot!” Kalen, who had been keeping watch from the banks, had stripped off his cloak and his armor and stood a few feet from me, his breeches soaked and his face glowering.

“I wasn’t going to drown myself,” I lied.

“Don’t scare me like that.” He reached for me, and I let myself float into his arms. Only after I was firmly secured did his grip relax. “I told you I’d look after you, and I meant every word.”

“I know.” I leaned my head against his chest. “Sorry.”

“We’ll fight for you, Tea. I’ll stake my life on yours.”

“How did you know I didn’t kill Daisy? Who else could it have been? And with my dagger? Fox was convinced. What other evidence do you need? Even I think I must have done it.” I plunged my hands back underneath the water, frantically scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, trying to rid myself of the blood that lingered underneath my fingernails, in the places I could feel but not see. “She’s still on me, Kalen. Daisy’s blood is on me, and I can’t get it off. I can’t. I can’t—”

He grabbed my hands, stilling their movements. “I love you, and I know you didn’t do it. I don’t give a damn what Fox saw. We shared—share—heartsglass, Tea. I can sense you, and I know you didn’t do it. We might not have the same bond as you have with Fox, but there is nothing in you to convince me that you willfully and deliberately killed Daisy.”

“How can you be so sure?” I trembled, so filled with love for him that I was afraid my heartsglass would break. “How can you be so sure of me when not even I am?”

He looked at me like I was precious and kissed me. “I know you, and I will always know you. Tea—that night when Polaire—” His voice still broke at the mention of her name. “When Polaire died, I felt you kill Aenah, and I felt your grief. I felt the hatred you were capable of like it was my own. And in that instant, I loved the darkest part of you, because I understood, better than Fox or Mykaela could. I’ve known you at your worst. And even at your worst, you would never kill your sister.”

I cried. He held me until I had no more tears left to shed. His heartsglass was warm against my cheek, despite the morning cold. “I don’t know that I deserve you,” I managed.