SAGE

I’ve noticed that shock does not scream. It hollowed. It carved you out from the inside and left you standing there, breathing, blinking, while your mind scrambled to catch up with reality.

For a heartbeat—just one—I was certain I had misheard her.

Then I saw it. The way the room froze. The way every single face mirrored what was tearing through me.

Catel looked like the ground had dropped out from under him. His mouth parted slightly, his eyes fixed on his sister as if she had grown another face, another mouth speaking blasphemy where love used to live.

Whatever bond he thought they shared fractured right there, audible...