My laughter escaped before I could stop it. A low, bitter laugh, full of scorn—but not at her, never at her. At what the world had made of us.
"You don’t think I’m a monster?" she asked, eyes half-lidded and curious, fixed on mine.
I shook my head.
"There is no monstrosity you could commit that would make me stop seeing you the way I do."
"And how do you see me?"
I leaned closer, as if I were about to tell her a secret.
A moth drawn to the flame, Icarus flying toward the sun, even knowing it would be his end. That was how Nadia made me feel.
"How do you see me?"
Like a flame. Like the sun.
Our noses nearly brushed. We were close enough for a kiss, close enough that she couldn’t escape my gaze and would feel the weight of honesty in my confession:
"As the most powerful woman I kno
