[Eliana's POV]
The world stopped.
The wind stilled. The grass ceased its swaying. Even the distant shrine on the hill seemed to hold its breath, waiting for me to respond.
"Ten years ago, at the river near Timberline Village... I know it wasn't you who saved me."
Ace's words echoed in my ears, over and over, a sentence that didn't make sense no matter how many times I turned it over in my mind. He knew. After ten years. After everything. He knew.
My arms fell from my chest. My hands hung limp at my sides. I stared at him—at those silver eyes that had once looked at me with so much love, so much trust, so much certainty—and saw something I had never seen before.
Disappointment.
Not anger. Not hatred. Just... disappointment. Quiet. Steady. Worse than rage.
"How..." My voice came out as a whisper, barely audible over the distant rustle of grass. I swallowed hard, forcing the words past the tightness in my throat. "How did you find out?"
