I didn’t stop them this time.
For the first time since I arrived here, I let myself break. The tears slid down my cheeks silently, soaking the pillow beneath me. I curled in on myself, arms wrapped around my stomach as though I could hold the pieces together, as though I could keep myself from unraveling completely.
I hated it. Hated the weakness, hated the quiet sobs I couldn’t swallow down. But I couldn’t stop. The emptiness inside me spread, swallowing everything, and I wept into the silence of my room.
A knock at the door made my heart lurch violently.
I froze, my breath catching, every instinct on high alert. For one terrifying second, I thought they had come for me again—that the elders had found some new excuse, that I was about to be dragged back behind bars.
I sat up quickly,
