Vessara quickened her steps. She didn't know where she was going—only that she needed distance. She needed air. She needed to escape the suffocating weight of what she just witnessed.
"Vessara!"
He called out to her. But she didn't slow. If she stopped, she would break entirely, and she had already shattered enough tonight.
"Vessara, wait—"
She felt his hand close around her arm, spinning her so abruptly that the world tilted. Her breath caught in her throat as she stumbled, and then she was facing him, close enough to see the storm raging in his eyes.
Vael's gaze swept over her face, and she watched his expression shift—confusion, then something that might have been concern. Her cheeks burned with the evidence of her tears.
"Let me go," she said, but her voice came out weaker than she intended. She jerked her arm free, taking a deliberate step backward.
"Are you scared of me?" Vael asked, his voice low, almost hesitant.
