A Broken Inheritance

Chapter 84: Slow Compromises

James didn't move.

She turned to look at him fully now.

"Eli Barnes. Thomas Nott. Priya Desai. Lysandra Crouch. Miles Kettering."

She looked down. "And Cal Ainsley."

James closed his eyes.

"Can you really say you forgive me for killing them?"

"You didn't kill them."

She smiled, faint and hollow. "Tell them that. Tell that to their families."

Her voice wasn't sharp. There was no anger in it.

Just truth. An unbearable kind.

There was an unnerving sort of stillness to her. Quiet. Rational. Steady.

James didn't know how to react to that. This wasn't the Anastasia who snapped. Who deflected. Who hardened like ice under pressure. There were no walls tonight. She wasn't hiding.

She was answering everything. Meeting his gaze. Letting him in.

And somehow, that made it worse.

She glanced at the fireplace, as if watching something in it only she could see.

"You said once you didn't care what I had to do to survive."

"I meant it," he said quietly.

She nodded. "I know. I believe you."

She was quiet for a second.

"It was theoretical, then," she said. "Now it's real."

James looked at her. She didn't blink.

"I know you were friends with Cal," she said softly. "I saw you. In his memories. That stupid smile of yours."

His throat tightened.

She didn't push.

"I'm not going to hold it against you. What you said before. What you feel now. We're at a crossroads. There's no way to leave these things unsaid."

James was still staring at her, something unreadable building in his throat, when he finally said:

"Why does it feel like you're drawing a line?"

His voice was soft. Not accusatory. Not wounded. Just... honest.

"Why does it feel like you're saying goodbye?"

Anastasia didn't answer at first. Her eyes stayed on the fire. The glow painted her cheekbones in soft gold, flickering just beneath the skin.

"Because the line's already been drawn," she said.

Then, after a beat, she turned. Looked him in the eye.

Her voice didn't waver.

"You know I care about you," she said. "About Sirius. About Remus."

James blinked.

"I'll do anything I can to protect you," she continued. "But you saw what it was like over the break. The suspicion. The fear. You know how hard it was for you—and you weren't even behind the wrong walls."

James flinched. Just slightly.

"It's only going to get harder," she said. "And I'm not saying goodbye. I'm not giving up. I just—" she paused, inhaling, "—I don't want us to end up resenting each other."

She sat straighter, but didn't pull her hands back into her lap.

"We're going to do what we each think needs to be done," she said. "And maybe that'll look like we're on opposite sides. Maybe we will be. And that has to be okay."