"I don't think I'm the same person I was three days ago." The admission slipped out before she could stop it. The room seemed to grow still around it. A moment passed. Then, with the slow deliberateness of someone approaching a frightened animal, Ralof pushed himself up from the chair and crossed the room. The movement alone made something inside Talisse seize. Her shoulders tightened instinctively. Every muscle along her back drew taut beneath the blanket. For one brief, humiliating moment, she thought he might reach for her. A hand on her shoulder. A comforting squeeze. Some well-meaning gesture that would send her heart lurching straight into her throat. She hated that she thought it. She hated even more that she couldn't stop herself. But when he lowered himself onto the floor beside the hearth, he left space between them. Not much, but enough that she didn't feel cornered. Enough that she could still breathe. The firelight danced across the floorboards separating them, throwing shifting ribbons of orange across the wool blanket gathered around her shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him hesitate once as he settled. His hand lifted slightly, as though some old instinct had urged him toward reassurance. Toward contact. Then he stopped. The hand dropped back to his knee. Talisse found herself unexpectedly grateful. Eventually Ralof exhaled quietly. "None of us are."

Got tagged by @umbracirrus