🦋 ALTHEA
​My throat burned. I swallowed hard, but no retort came.
​Because this time… he wasn't wrong.
​"You think if you throw yourself into war," he said, slower now, measured, "if you chase the Sovereign, if you bleed for answers, it will fill that void."
​My shoulders trembled.
​"But it won't," he finished. "It will only hollow you out further."
​The fight bled out of me all at once. I turned away from him, the movement stiff, mechanical. Each step back to the bed felt like wading through water thick with grief. I climbed onto the mattress and lay down on my side, facing the wall, drawing my knees up to my chest.
​The room was silent. I could feel him there—unmoving and watching. The weight of his gaze pressed between my shoulder blades, heavy and relentless. He didn't move to speak or leave or to even slee
