"Trap myself? You think I am trapping myself?" Morvakar asked.
"Well, yes… you were exiled from Blood City, yes, but you chose to stay away from people," Thessa said calmly, her eyes not leaving his. "You could have moved to another city, immersed yourself in life, in the pulse of civilization, in the energy of humanity—and yet you chose to shackle yourself in a rundown castle. And now, your banishment is lifted, and you still choose to be alone." Morvakar's chest tightened. He hadn't realized how much of his solitude was voluntary, how much it was a cage he had built himself, to protect himself from ever feeling vulnerable again.
"I am choosing to leave because I have nothing else to offer," he said. "I have no power, no status, no reason to stay. I'm… depleted. What good am I to anyone now?" He cast his gaze downward, ashamed that he was admitting such weakness, even to her.
