Cassie smiled sweetly up at him, reaching back to hold the hand he'd used to protect her head and neck when he'd caught her right there where he'd put it. It was part of the point she was making, after all. Then her expression sobered again.

"They didn't break you," she said. "They gouged at you and they hurt you and they tortured you, but they didn't break you. You know how I know? Because when I fall out of the sky, even when you know I'm doing it on purpose, you're there to catch me."

She squeezed the hand behind her neck again, to draw his attention to it, then released it to cup his face in her hands so that he couldn't look away.

"They didn't break you," she repeated, blinking away the tears she felt building at the corner of her eyes. "Doing that might. But it won't break me."