[SE] you'll never know it's coming

there exists a tipping point between gods and monsters

The ice that splinters out of Jack is like a whiplash, a jagged and uncontrolled spiral from his feet that glints, razor sharp in the fragrant air, and he can taste blood with the way he is suddenly biting his tongue. "I never called you a coward," he hisses, every word as calm as he can make it. "And I never said you couldn't do shit about it. You wanted to stop fightin' the Family. I don't. To keep you safe, I don't." He'd said it then and he's saying it now.

"And every time you act as if that decision is an instant death sentence is an insult, Flora. What'd you think I'm gonna do? Knock on Dahlia's door and spit in her face? Challenge Pierce to an arm wrestlin' contest? I'm not a fuckin' idiot, and it'd be a lot easier to want to chase you around if I felt like you had a crumb of faith in me." Not that it matters all that much, of course, because for all the blistering thoughts that race through Flora's mind, it's her words that cut the deepest.

You have no idea what it means to actually love someone.

Feeling his throat grow uncharacteristically tight, Jack offers her a tight, cold smile and sketches a mockery of a bow. "I did say I wasn't good enough for you," he says roughly. "I'll be on my way, if you're quite done judgin' me for somethin' I never had before now."