SILAS POV
*A thousand years - Cristina Perry*
Helena stood across the room like a boundary I wasn’t allowed to cross, arms locked tight over her chest, chin lifted just enough to show she was bracing for impact, and even though only a few feet of hardwood separated us the distance felt like the kind you measure in years and heartbreak instead of steps. I had imagined this moment so many times that the fantasies blurred together—her running into my arms, her screaming at me, her crying, her hitting me, her collapsing when she saw me—but none of those versions prepared me for the real thing: Helena Savage standing in the dim light of her living room, exhausted, beautiful, furious, trying to pretend she wasn’t afraid of me and failing just enough for me to feel it like a bruise under my rib
