The countryside road stretched endlessly beneath the pale morning sky.
Tall grass swayed softly in the wind, and the scent of wet earth drifted through the open car window.
Ametrine hadn’t been here in years.
Yet every turn of the road felt painfully familiar.
Zyair drove quietly beside her, occasionally glancing in her direction.
“You’re tense.”
“I always am when I come back here,” she replied softly.
“This place holds too many memories.”
The old wooden bridge appeared ahead.
Ametrine’s chest tightened.
“That bridge,” she murmured.
“What about it?”
“It’s where my grandmother used to wait for me after school.”
Zyair slowed the car slightly.
“You miss her.”
Ametrine nodded.
“I thought she was just a lonely old woman trying to survive.”
Her voice lowered.
“Now I realize she
