Thalia
The screen went dark, and the room fell quiet except for a faint hum.
My hands were still locked around the chair arms. I hadn’t realized I was gripping them that hard.
My breathing refused to settle, each breath catching awkwardly in my chest. Something warm slid down my cheek before I even realized it, but I made no move to wipe it away.
The images refused to leave my mind. Raleigh standing over them. Maria lying motionless on the ground. The look on her mother's face as she held her daughter and begged for a response that would never come.
Had Raleigh always been this cruel?
How had I never seen it?
She hadn't just betrayed me. She had killed one of her own people.
More tears slipped down my cheeks, and this time I didn't try to stop them.
I stared at the blank screen t
