“Your loss is deep, but you will heal. It will linger, but you will keep living.” I had no need to counter his words. The wound within me had been split open stitch by stitch and there was nothing he could do to mend it. So I lay back down and watched the fire rage. “Rest now. When you wake, the world will still be cruel and your heart will still be bleeding, but you are breathing, Astraea. And every breath is a reminder that you live for something.”
