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~ Alice POV I had never hated silence before. Now it stalked. Too orderly. Too composed. As if the walls themselves were pretending nothing had rotted inside them for years. My aunt was gone. My father had buried himself in Alpha duties. Iris moved through the halls like a ghost. And I…. I was unraveling. I told myself I hated them all. My dad. Iris. My aunt. It was easier that way. Easier to let anger burn than let grief swallow me whole. But the worst part wasn’t my father. Well, part of it It wasn’t Eunice. It wasn’t even the humiliation of that day in the council chamber. It was the ache. That stubborn, traitorous ache in my chest that refused to die. Because i still loved Iris. And that made me furious with myself. I avoided her. Ignored her presence at meals.
- Writer
