Valtira
I set the empty gift box down, my fingers trembling despite all attempts to steady them. My stomach churned with every thought of Zarek and Danika, every memory of how I had once been the one seated where she now sat.
I despised that I had been forced to face them both, and despised even more the hollow, burning ache that lingered inside my chest.
But Draven—his low, persuasive voice had cut through the storm. “Show them it means nothing,” he had said, and the quiet conviction in his tone had seeped into me like ink through cloth.
So I let anger rise, swelling and sharp, until it swallowed every trace of shame. I let it drive me. And I did it. I refused to meet Zarek’s eyes without flinching. I placed the box among the others with a steady hand. Then Draven and I departed toge
