Selene left laughing.
Not the light laughter she once shared with me when we were girls and the world still felt forgiving, but a sharp, careless sound that cut through the forest like a blade.
I did not follow her.
I stayed where I was, standing among the trees, my breath fogging in the cool night air. Somewhere in the distance, an owl cried. Somewhere else, something heavier moved and then stilled.
I pressed my palm to my chest.
How had it come to this? How had the girl who once braided my hair and slept beside me during storms become the woman who laughed at my pain and threatened my ruin? I replayed her words over and over, searching for the place where I might have failed her, where I might have chosen differently.
But the truth rose, no matter how I tried to bury it.
Selene d
