Chapter 11

TESSA POV

"Hello, Mom."

The moment I heard her voice on the other end of the phone, my eyes filled with tears. I pressed my lips together, trying to hold them back. It didn't work. One tear slipped free, then another, and I turned toward the window, wiping them away with the back of my hand before I remembered she couldn't even see me. It didn't matter. She would know anyway. She had always been able to tell when something was wrong with me, even through a phone line, even across an entire war.

"How are you, dear?" she asked immediately, her voice warm and familiar, exactly as...