REVA
Nikolai and I locked gazes, and I froze, my fingers tightening on the edge of the tablecloth without permission.
He stared right at me, and just like that, the ground I thought I had found under my feet vanished. But I refused to look away first, even as my insides wobbled like loose glass. I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction, and I held his gaze, something fiery rising in me: defiance, boldness, and a spine I didn’t know I still had.
I’d imagined this moment a hundred times on the way here. I thought I’d fall apart, that my tears would betray me the second I saw him, despite the armor I'd thrown around my heart. But I felt nothing. Or maybe not nothing, just numb. Like every shard of pain he carved into me was locked behind an impenetrable wall.
He thought I’d crumble the mome
