Lydia sat in the carriage, her fingers digging into the seat beneath her. The soft creaking of the wooden wheels echoed in her ears, but she barely heard it. Her eyes stared blankly through the window as the buildings and white rooftops of Svetlana began to disappear behind her.
Each mile that passed felt like something was being ripped out of her chest.
This wasn't real.
It felt like a nightmare.
A nightmare she couldn't wake up from.
Her breath came in shallow, shaky bursts. The kind that hurt your ribs and made your throat burn. She tried to steady it, but it only made the ache worse.
The cold seeped into her bones, but her skin burned from the pain inside. Her chest felt tight, as though something heavy had fallen on it and refused to move.
She was shaking. Trembling so hard her teeth almost chattered, not from the cold, but from everything else.
Ivan had really done it. He had really sent her away.
He had thrown her out of his life. Just like that.
