Though she felt reluctant, Jasmine had to split up with Azriel. He went with Nol and the child, Lia, to buy her more candy—anything to cheer her up as the seconds without her missing brother stretched longer and longer.
Jasmine was the one who had arranged it that way.
Oddly enough, the festival was the perfect chance to clear certain things up with the few people she truly loved.
There was one person left—one conversation Jasmine still needed to have, now that she had spoken with Azriel. That heavy talk had given her something she hadn't realized she was missing: perspective. Understanding. And, painfully, realization.
So her being with Celestina right now was not coincidence.
Jasmine had planned it.
They needed to talk.
She watched Celestina quietly through her mask, her eyes amused, as Celestina stood before a stall and examined the hairpins. She picked them up one by one, turning them between her fingers, then setting them back down—again and again.
