CHAPTER 164
She didn't answer—not yet. But the heat in her chest was boiling to the surface. And she knew… she would. Her chest rose and fell, breaths shaking, the weight of Vera's words pressing down on her. But the heat inside her didn't break—it solidified, hardened into something razor-sharp.
She lifted her eyes, meeting Vera's with a fire that burned through every bone in her body. "No," she said, voice low, trembling—not from weakness, but from fury. "I'm not like you."
She took a step forward despite the guards flanking her, despite the cuffs cutting into her wrists.
"I never raised anyone to die for me." Her voice grew louder, steadier with every word. "I never groomed someone, pretended to love them just to feed them to a war."
But not one of those deaths was of someone who trusted me to protect them. Not one of them was my own blood who looked up to me thinking she was safe."
Her eyes flicked to Lawrenz, still unable to look at her. Then back to Vera.
