Nothing burns like the emotionless stare of a loved one whose faith was tested beyond all limits. One word accomplished what a series of offenses hadn't, for Bella was out of forgiveness when it came down to Edward. Something brittle and uncouth turned the woman he'd always known into a stranger without a bit of warmth in her jaded eyes. Despite being dead for quite a while, it was the first time Edward truly felt cold, for there was nothing more terrifying than seeing the fading light of hopelessness overtaking the other half of him.
The other half of him … The better one, the loving one—to see her turning into stone before him and, worst of all, because of him was nothing more than he deserved for all the cruelties he'd perpetrated against Bella. But what about her? Didn't she deserve more? Was that all she got? A half assed chance at love with a stupid and uncaring man?
For a long time silence dominated the room, until Bella's eerily calm voice cut through the air with the subtlety of an arrow destined to hit its mark.
"All of this is pointless, isn't it? What if you were the great love of my life? There is no way of knowing for sure because you never truly talked to me. You made your choices, but curiously, and unfairly, I'm the one who will have to live with them.
"Doubt will forever be my companion … I will never know … never understand … And for what, Edward? So that you could play Prince Charming to Sleeping Beauty? The thing is I don't think you loved her—not then, not yesterday.
"Among all the things I wish you could tell me, the one I truly need to know is: why have you always felt the compulsion to be her hero?"