CIAN
I was not asleep.
I had been close, somewhere between the drag of the tonic smell lingering from the vial and the weight of Fia's head against my chest, but I had not crossed over. I stayed still because she needed me still. Because whatever had broken open in her at the pool was still bleeding quietly and the last thing she needed was for me to push at the wound.
But then she started talking.
She thought I was under. I could feel it in the way her voice changed, that particular quality it could only take because she believed nobody was listening. Low and unguarded and very, very careful, like she was handling something that could shatter.
"I never got to protect my first family. I had been too young and too ignorant and by the time I understood what was happening it was already done."
My chest tightened.
