Moonspear [m] better off (with you)

Though he'd been expecting it, though he'd been thinking it himself, the bottom still dropped out of his stomach when Treepie told him this changed things.

I love you.

Would it change things again if he said it? Would it be kinder to simply step back and let her go? Perhaps his own priorities had shifted — but Kindle could not give her what she wanted most. Not for all the love in the world. She would have to find a woman for that.

"I know," he said, his voice low and hunted. He wanted to say something that would make this better. Something that would make her feel better, at least. But his heart was breaking, and it was hard enough to muster the effort to keep himself together, let alone to comfort her.