'...' Ethea stared at Soren, her chest tightening so sharply it felt hard to breathe. A sudden heat pricked behind her eyes, and before she could stop them, tears silently spilled over, tracing down her cheeks.
She had no idea he had been carrying this kind of burden all along. And, compared to what he had faced every day of his childhood, her own struggles felt almost trivial. The sheer resilience it took to merely survive that house was beyond her imagination. Living for years under the weight of everyone's hatred without ever knowing what it felt like to be wanted or loved was a torment she could barely wrap her mind around.
Her heart ached for the boy he had been, but he spoke of his past with a calm detachment that made the tragedy feel even more profound.
