Fading Shadows, Burning Hearts
She's altered, he realized, his chest closing up. But so have I.
And yet. she was Sasha. The same girl who had laughed too freely, who had disapproved of him with the sole purpose of hearing how he would react, who had stood outside the training arenas regardless of how long he kept her waiting—just to walk home with him.
Now, she sat beside him, trembling, silent, shining in that quiet, devastating kind of sadness that only love could leave behind.
Victor's voice came again, low and rough, cutting through the air between them. "I mean it, Sasha. I'm… really sorry."
This time, she turned toward him fully. Her eyes glimmered under the moonlight, caught between disbelief and pain. Her lips parted, her voice trembling just enough to betray her restraint.
"Why…?"
Her voice cracked with that one word, so thin and shaken, as if something within her had snapped.
He blinked, dazed by her tone, torn between guilt and confusion. "Why?"
