Aside from Liv and Perry—and now Aria—Roar had only ever loved one other person: his grandmother. When she’d died years ago, he’d stormed around the compound for a month before settling down.

Maybe that was what Roar needed. Time.

A lot of it.

“You don’t know what it was like, Perry. What he went through in Rim, and afterward.”

Perry went still, blinking at her in disbelief. He couldn’t stand to hear that right now. “You’re right,” he said, straightening. “I wasn’t there when Liv died, but I should have been. That was our plan, remember? We were going to go together. As I recall, you and Roar left without me.”

Aria’s gray eyes widened in surprise. “I had to go. You’d have lost the Tides otherwise.”

He needed to leave now. Frustration and anger still roiled inside him. He didn’t want to take that out on her. But he couldn’t stop himself from replying.

“You made that decision on your own. Even if you were right, couldn’t you have told me? Couldn’t you have said something, instead of leaving without a word? You vanished on me, Aria.”

“Perry, I was . . . I didn’t think you . . . I guess we should talk about this.”

He hated to see the small line between her eyebrows, hated to see her hurting because of him. He should have never opened his mouth. “No,” he said. “It’s done. Forget it.”

“Obviously, you haven’t.”

He couldn’t pretend otherwise. The memory of walking into Vale’s room to find her gone still played in his mind. Whenever he left her side, a flicker of fear taunted him, whispering in his ear that she might disappear again—though he knew she wouldn’t. It was an irrational fear, as Marron had said. But when had fear ever been rational?

“It’ll be morning before long,” he said, changing the subject. They had too much else to consider to dwell on the past. “I need to get organized.”

Aria’s eyebrows drew together. “You need to get organized? So you’re going this time?”

Her temper cooled by the second. She thought he was leaving her. That he was getting back at her for leaving him by going without her tomorrow.

“I want us both to go,” he rushed to clarify. “I know you’re hurt, but if you feel well enough, I need you on this mission. You’re as much Dweller as you are Outsider—we’ll be facing both—and you’ve dealt with Hess and Sable.”

There were other reasons. She was clever and tenacious. A strong Aud. Most importantly, he didn’t want to say good-bye to her in the morning. But he didn’t say any of those things. He couldn’t bring himself to open his heart only to have her choose not to be with him once again.