She was serious. She was really standing here, willing to be punished just to defend Abuchi.
She didn't realize what that meant to him. She didn't understand what it did to him. He wished he was the one she was protecting...
His jaw tightened.
"No," he said finally, voice low but firm. "He's the leader. He'll be punished. That's final."
Nnenna opened her mouth to argue, but the tone in his voice stopped her cold. It wasn't just final, it was desperate. As though he needed her not to fight this.
He was shutting the conversation down before she could make him do something he would never forgive himself for.
Punish her?
Never.
Not now. Not ever.
Her words could hurt him, her silence could confuse him, but her pain? He would never accept that again.
She didn't know how close he was to breaking the walls he had built over the past ten years. Walls that were already cracking just by seeing her hurt.
