That night, unable to sleep, Amaya wandered into Adrian's private wing. She found him staring at an old photograph—his mother, smiling, her arms wrapped around a boy who couldn't have been more than ten.
Adrian didn't notice her at first. His eyes glistened with a pain he rarely showed.
"You shouldn't see this," he said hoarsely when he realized she was there.
"Maybe I should," she whispered.
He looked at her for a long time, then finally admitted: "I swore no one would ever take power from me again. That's why I destroy before I'm destroyed."
Amaya's heart ached. For the first time, she understood the boy behind the monster.
And that made it harder to keep hating the man.