Elián;
I didn't tell anyone about the figure I saw under the tree last night, and I don't plan to. Telling them about it will only bring them trouble they cannot solve.
They have only just started trying to breathe again. I should let them have that. So…none of them will hear of it.
Not Koda, who's been watching me all morning with that softness his eyes carry when he thinks I'm one wrong move away from breaking.
Not Zephan, who hugged me twice before breakfast for no reason he explained… and certainly not Queen Selthía, whose eyes found mine across the table again this morning, still troubled, still trying to figure me out like something she suddenly stopped understanding.
I keep the knowledge tucked, and quiet inside my chest…hidden behind the same wall where I keep Bram's face. Where I keep the sound he made when I killed him—Where I keep everything I've decided no one else needs to carry alongside me.
