She's not wrong in her assumption that the abuse he'd endured had affected him deeply. It had, in ways that would make a therapist's head spin. The loneliness and isolation, finding himself the center of everyone's hatred...it had become so much. She had been his sanctuary, figuratively and quite literally. Not only in her presence did he feel wanted and accepted but he found reprieve and shelter from the end of a cane or the tips of boots. The physical scars he'd collected over the years had healed, but the lashes he'd taken to heart had made parts of him internally break and fray. That isn't to say he couldn't be stitched back together again, but it will take some time.

The look she gives him has his stomach turning before suddenly he finds her in his arms, squeezing him desperately. He's shocked, to put it lightly, returning the embrace after a moment of trying to register what's happening. Holding her like this, with her face buried against his chest...it fills him to the brim with so many emotions they threaten to spill over.

A hand moves to hold the back of her head and it's in that instant that he realizes just how close she is to him. To have her against him like this...he never thought possible, even if she's hugging him out of distress. It makes him happy and he's not sure he should feel that way.

"It wouldn't have done you any good if you had known, Princess...if anything, if you had tried to do something, they would've kept you from me I'm sure. So please, you don't need to apologize. You've done nothing but be kind to me."