"I thought that was it. I thought I'd ruined it." Her fingers tightened on the porcelain. "But then I went to him, and I said I was sorry, and I meant it. And he listened. And then he forgave me, even though he didn't have to. He was so... understanding. I still can't believe it."
She laughed, a short, shaky sound.
"We aren't the way we were before. Maybe we never will be. Something broke and it doesn't fit back the same. But it feels like we're building it again, slowly, from the beginning. And I think this time I want to build it properly."
The room was silent.
Somewhere beneath them a clock ticked, and a door closed on the ground floor.
Kiara glanced up, half afraid of what she would see, and found her father smiling at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing." He shook his head. "It is only that people say a great many things about my daughter. They say she is rude. They say she is proud, and cocky, and a little cruel with her tongue." His voice was warm.
