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Jax sat at the edge of his bed. Ragatha stood in the doorway. Everything had been restored… but then. He brought up her mother and she would not forgive him right away, but there was something wrong about how he was as isolating himself. Especially after Caine had inferred everything about his human counterpart’s life. In combination with their history and what he made her promise, she closed the door behind her and the distance in their relationship.
“You have done many things to me and the others that I cannot forgive you easily for,” Ragatha starts. She watches how his eyes don’t even narrow. He was that tired. “But there are things I was not aware of until now… that somehow make me hate you less.”
He glances up at he. She takes the bow from her hair. She holds it out as an offer. His eyes widen at the olive branch.
“I think I’m beginning to understand,” she says, rather softly. “But I want you to make me understand… even if it takes a while.”
Jax reaches out and does not take her bow —he takes her hand. She feels herself get drawn closer, until she has a place on his bed. He looks at her for the first time in a while. Not looking but seeing. He takes in her red hair. Her femininity. He takes in his much he has hated her and has probably wanted to be her.
“There’s a lot I don’t understand about myself…” he finally answers, and shifts his hand in hers. He feels the fabric of her blue bow. He realised the age was offering him to wear it, not simply pressing it to his head. “You should have stopped trying to understand me a while ago.”
“But I haven’t.”
“You should.”
“I won’t.”
“I know.”
He… or she—she finally addressed herself as—would have a long way to go. And would have a long way to go before Ragatha would trust her again. But it seemed like something both were willing to do.