[Osric's POV — Irethene Forest, After Lavinia's Departure]
The silence after she left was unbearable. Her footsteps faded down the path, but her voice—her fury—still echoed like a curse I'd carved into my own soul.
She said she'd cut off my legs. I almost wished she had. It would have hurt less than the way she looked at me—as if I were a stranger wearing the face of the man she once loved.
Eleania's ragged breathing filled the emptiness between us. She sat on the ground, trembling, her wrists still bound by the restraints Lavinia's magic had conjured moments earlier. A faint burn marked her skin—the same flame that had once devoured an empire.
And yet, I knelt for her.
Not because I forgave her. Not because I pitied her. But because if Lavinia had struck her down now—without knowing why—everything she had fought for would have turned to ash.
