HOPE
We sit in a thick, suffocating silence after the elders leave. It feels like hours, but I know it's barely been ten minutes.
It's excruciating—like being trapped in a slow-burning nightmare with these five men, bound to me by fate, sitting across from me, their eyes cold and unreadable.
They look at me like I'm the enemy.
And maybe I am. I get it. I know what I did. I know why they're angry. But that doesn't make it any easier to sit here and feel it pour off of them like poison.
Asher breaks the silence first. He lets out a frustrated breath and snaps, "Should I even bother asking why you want nothing to do with this?"
Because I almost fucking died in their hands.
His voice is low but sharp, laced with hurt he clearly hasn't dealt with. I brace myself, keeping my expression calm even as something in me flinches. I'm not used to ever seeing him hurt, and knowing I'm the cause isn't settling well with me...
