🦋 ALTHEA
My throat burned. I swallowed hard, but no retort came.
Because this time… he wasn't wrong.
"You think if you throw yourself into war," he said, slower now, measured, "if you chase the Sovereign, if you bleed for answers, it will fill that void."
My shoulders trembled.
"But it won't," he finished. "It will only hollow you out further."
The fight bled out of me all at once. I turned away from him, the movement stiff, mechanical. Each step back to the bed felt like wading through water thick with grief. I climbed onto the mattress and lay down on my side, facing the wall, drawing my knees up to my chest.
The room was silent. I could feel him there—unmoving and watching. The weight of his gaze pressed between my shoulder blades, heavy and relentless. He didn't move to speak or leave or to even slee
