"I am sorry." Quiet enough to be barely audible. "That I am not stronger. That you have to see it and feel - condemned. Accused. It is not my intention."

But then again, when did he ever successfully make his intention come through?

Xichen breathes out, swallowing down the bitterness of failure. Again. Over the months that have gone by, the taste has gotten very familiar.

"Being a good man... it is not something I can give you. Trying to tell you were when you were not did not end well. But I can give you this - I believe that you are now, and you can be. And I will not turn away as you try to maintain it."