[He may meet her gaze, but he can't hold it. Alex goes perfectly still after she lowers her eyes, other than the violent shivering that she has no control over. Tears fill her closed eyes and then they edge over her lashes, drawing a thin line of black with them as they do it.

He's lying, Richard is lying and they both know it. Alex knows it as clearly as she knows that he believes that they were meant to find one another because of this, that they were meant to be together, but he's still lying.

She just whispers the words when she speaks, and it feels like a long time after he'd said those words and they ring in Alex's ears. ]

You're lying. Even after you promised there'd be no more secrets between us. You're still lying about seeing them. You've seen them. The cabin where they found Sebastian, Simon... Where else?

[Alex raises her eyes and her voice rises a little in pitch as she desperately asks:]

Is that one of the reasons you were avoiding me so much over the last year? Because you can see them around me?