Chapter 134 A Kindness That Burns

• ⊰ Alaki ⊱
• The afternoon sun burns against my skin as I stand at the balcony railing. My feet ache from standing so long, my muscles protesting hours of stillness, but I can’t bring myself to go back inside and rest. It’s been so long since I’ve stood out here. I’d forgotten how deceivingly freeing it felt.
• I look at the stone rail, remembering the last time I perched on it. How I’d slipped, how concerned Efrem was, and how he threatened to have it demolished if I ever did it again. Thinking back to it now, the concussion that’d been mild, but I was okay and I was grateful for it.