SARGIS'S POV
Breakfast ended, thankfully.
I wrapped my fingers around Narine’s hand and didn’t let go. I held it the whole time, even when she barely touched her food. She just picked at it, pushing things around her plate like maybe if she arranged it enough, she’d convince herself to eat. But she didn’t. Not really.
And I saw the way she kept trying to sit upright, like she was holding herself together one inch at a time.
I sighed. My mother… God.
Avaline was many things, brilliant, cunning, and respected, but if there was one thing she wasn’t, it was gentle. She didn’t know how to soften her words. If she believed something, she said it, no matter the collateral damage. And when she felt like she was right, she doubled down until she’d bulldozed through everyone else’s perspective.
