Chapter 68
She sat alone on the edge of her narrow cot for a long while after reaching the privacy of her room, reading Luca's letter over and over, each pass through his careful, searching words breaking something further loose in her chest that she'd kept carefully sealed away for over two years now.
She thought of him small and frightened among the wreckage of his family's home, all those years ago. She thought of every careful, hesitant message he'd sent her over the years since, always waiting for her to reach out first, always so terrified of being too much trouble. She thought of the crushing weight of guilt she carried, believing she'd abandoned him so completely during her time locked away, unable to explain, unable to reach out, unable to do anything except let the silence stre
