đ.đ: Questions
đlysia hadn't expected Reina to comply so easily.
When she first spotted the girl trembling in despair by the pond, she'd prepared herself for resistanceâsharp denials, frantic apologies, maybe even a full-blown chase scene across the eastern courtyard. The air had held that kind of tension, thick and electric. But insteadâŠ
Here they were.
Reina, quiet. Compliant.
And Elysia, about to get some answers.
She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, the chill of the pond-side breeze catching on her lips.
Her eyes lingered on the other girl's fragile frame. Reina's shoulders were hunched inwards like a wilting flower, trembling with barely-contained fear.
She looked smaller somehow, as though the weight of the truth had hollowed her out.
Guilt tugged at Elysia's chest.
How long had she been this terrified? Living each day beneath someone else's thumb, her every breath monitored?
