"I'm sorry. For the fights, the barbs, the walls we built. For every time Tila snapped or pushed you away. She never meant to hurt you. It was just… survival. But please… forgive her. Forgive me. We were both so lost, clinging to each other in the dark. I was her shield, her voice when she couldn't speak. But now…" She choked, a hand pressing to her chest as if to hold herself together.
"Now she's finding her light without me."
Freya stepped closer now, slowly, her voice gentler than Rhea had ever heard it, laced with a tremor of her own.
She reached out, hesitating before placing a hand on Lila's arm—cold, so cold. "Lila… we don't understand what's happening to you, but you're scaring us. Talk to us. Let us help."
"You don't have to understand," Lila said, managing a watery smile through the tears, her black eyes shimmering with a mix of sorrow and peace.
