She looks up at me, her face contorted in absolute agony, tears streaming down her cheeks, washing through the dust on her skin.
"Zara, I swear to you,” Willow begs, her voice raw, cracking, pleading. "I didn't know he knew you. I was so broken that night... I was so hurt. I thought he was just being kind to me... Zara, please... please believe me..."
I look down at her.
In the dim, flickering overhead light, Willow looks utterly destroyed. Her knees press into the dirt floor, her shoulders hunching inward as if expecting a blow. She isn’t a player on this violent board. She’s a woman who spent her life looking for guidance from the universe and the kindness of strangers, only to be turned into a trap for her own sister.
There’s no malice in Willow, and there never was. Knox is a pred
