The words fell like a stone in Raellyn’s stomach. Raellyn swallowed hard. The weight of his pain settled over her like a thick fog. Every word he spoke felt like thunder in a sky that never cleared.
Regret surged through her like a tide. She knew the story—yes—but hearing it now, from Arnav’s perspective, made her heart ache in a new and unbearable way. He had been just a child in desperate need of his mother’s love, only to be met with betrayal and abandonment. No one was innocent in this tale. Not his mother. Not his father. And certainly not Arnav, who had been forced to survive the wreckage left by both.
She finally saw what he had done. Distancing himself from his mother hadn’t been an act of hate, but a desperate attempt to protect himself from further hurt. And yet, even that act
