For a whole minute, Peri couldn't bring herself to speak.
There was no mistaking it—the face in the sketch belonged to her childhood friend, the boy her mother once treated as her own son.
Gerald had never been just a friend. He was family. For as long as she could remember, she saw him as her shield, someone she admired for his dedication and steady spirit that never wavered.
Even after their last quarrel, she hadn't been able to hate him. She believed that if he apologized to Hades, she would forgive him. Deep inside, she even thought the two of them could have become close friends.
But now… "Are you sure?" Her voice was low, though she already knew the answer. Kaelith wouldn't have called her here without certainty.
Still, that faint thread of hope kept her tied to her past self. She wished it wasn't him. She wished it were someone else.
