What was this feeling?
Matia didn't know.
She wasn't familiar with this feeling.
It was the strongest emotion she had ever experienced, one so overwhelming that for the first time in a very long time, it made her want to look away.
It hurt more than her broken body.
More than the blood spilling from her wounds and soaking into the frozen ground beneath her.
She…
This feeling was dirty.
And she did not like it.
Matia had once been corrupted, so she knew what it felt like to be dirty.
Only corruption itself could feel worse than this.
This feeling that made her wish she was not here.
The feeling darker than green envy.
This was shame.
Matia was ashamed.
She felt ashamed for hating her brother.
The one person who had only ever loved her.
Slowly, she lowered her head, drawing in several unsteady breaths as though trying to force the emotion out of her chest, but it clung to her tighter than the pain ever could.
Her father's footsteps echoed through the snow behind her.
