Kate raised her head. "I wanted to express my gratitude through more appropriate methods, but everything I could think of to help you wasn't within my abilities. I'm no match for you; everything I could do, so could you. It's not like I could hang around you every day, observing you to see what you needed. At the same time, I don't think that's appropriate behavior between friends." She stopped here, unable to continue making things up anymore. Her mind was a mess, and she didn't even know what she was saying. She lowered her eyes to her feet and exhaled. "

Well, that's all I wanted to say. I'm sure you understand exactly what I mean—whatever happened between us, whether good or bad, ends here. Things will spiral out of control if we continue like this." With that, she spun around and hurried out of the room.

Darius stared in the direction she'd left as if his eyes had been glued to the door. This lasted until Edward stepped forward to stand between him and the door, making him return