"I'm sorry," Kasteil said.
I looked at him, a little confused.
The apology caught me off guard. I had been bracing myself for something else—defensiveness, maybe, or that careful, measured composure he always wore like armor. But this was different. His voice was softer than I had ever heard it, stripped of the Alpha King's authority, stripped of everything except the raw, honest regret of a man who had realized he had hurt someone he loved.
"I didn't realize I was making you feel that way," he continued.
His red eyes held mine, steady and open, and there was something almost vulnerable in them—something that made my chest ache despite the frustration still simmering beneath my skin.
"But now that you've told me, I understand that I shouldn't have been doing it."
I stared at him.
What?
The word echoed through my mind.
