“I understand better than you think,” I murmur. “I watched my brother die right before my eyes. I was supposed to be standing next to him. Those were his orders. If I’d listened, I’d have taken the bullet and Maksim would be here today.”
She shifts in my arms and then her hand slips up to my face and cups my cheek. “But then you wouldn’t be here with me.”
“Would you trade your life for Clara’s?” I ask.
Her eyebrows pinch together. “In a heartbeat. But she wouldn’t want that. And neither would Maksim.”
Her certainty feels like a breath of fresh air. I want to lose myself in that confidence.
“You know why I believe that?” she asks, glancing down at our interlinked chains. “Because they were good, strong people. They gave us their strength so we could continue without them.”
I trace the
