"You really had to take all from him?"
For a heartbeat, the woman beneath Arik's hand did not react.
Then confusion returned to her face with impressive precision.
"Goliath, I don't understand."
Arik's grip tightened just enough to make the lie harder to perform.
"No. You understand perfectly."
Her fingers closed around his wrist, not clawing now, but trying to create enough space to breathe comfortably. She was stronger than the woman Marin had treated in Wrohan, yet Arik had expected that too.
He had spent months wondering why.
Now the answer was standing against his wall wearing his daughter's face.
"You think I'm not Amara?"
Arik studied her clear blue eyes.
"That is the interesting part. I think you are."
Something flickered through them.
He smiled without warmth.
"Just not enough of her."
