Lucius stumbled back, his hand still pressed against the cheek that burned from Serene's strike. It wasn't the physical sting that paralyzed him, but the hollow void in her eyes. This wasn't the gaze of a resentful younger sister; it was the look of a judge reading a death sentence.
"Serene…" he choked out, his voice thin. "Why? After all these years..."
"Years?" Serene cut him off with a dry, jagged laugh that sounded like rusted metal grinding together. "You call them years, Lucius? I call them an eon of rot. More than two decades spent decaying behind the walls of that palace, and you didn't even bother to send a shadow to ask if I was still breathing."
Lucius's eyes widened in genuine disbelief. "What are you talking about? *I* didn't ask? Serene, you were the one who sent dozens of letters telling me you didn't want to see me. You literally said it would be a 'disgrace' to be associated with me ever again!"
