Thalia was lost for a moment. If she wanted to be honest with herself, the man was handsome and his words stirred something inside her — something fragile, something she did not feel toward the man she was promised to before she was kidnapped.
But hope was dangerous, and she dared not hope.
Love, even more so. She was afraid to even think about it.
For love was not for the likes of her.
"I am no maiden, Sir Logan," she said, her voice steady. "You'll hear the stories soon how I was once taken by a man — Hook. How Lara found me broken and saved me. I am not untouched. I am not the kind you dream of."
Logan was still, his expression unreadable. Then, softly—
"I did not ask for your purity."
She blinked.
"I'm not drawn to you because you are unscarred," he said. "I'm drawn to you because you're standing. Because, despite everything, you carry yourself like someone who refuses to be looked down on. I like you as a person, Thalia. No matter how scarred or how broken you are."
