Alaria:
The mornings had begun to blend together, gray light, careful silence, and the quiet pacing of footsteps outside my door that reminded me I was never truly alone.
It’s been weeks, maybe months since we’ve been here. At this point, I genuinely lost count of how long it has been.
My body felt heavier these days, my strength flickering between sharp bursts and exhaustion. The doctor’s tonics helped little; the only thing that steadied me was Anastasia’s small voice when she spoke to me, unaware of how much I needed her calm to keep from breaking.
That morning, Bianca came in without her usual sharpness. She carried a tray, but she wasn’t watching me, her eyes were fixed somewhere past me, as if she were listening to something only she could hear.
“You need to eat,” she said, sett
