She smiled faintly. “I don’t know. You kind of look like you might.”
That pulled a quiet laugh out of me before I could stop it. She blinked, maybe surprised that I actually could.
“I’m not good at crowds either,” I admitted, leaning against the railing beside her. “Or… people, in general.”
“That’s hard to believe,” she said softly.
“It shouldn’t be.”
The silence that followed wasn’t awkward—just… full. The kind that settles between two people who both needed quiet for different reasons.
“I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said after a moment. “It’s just—sometimes it’s all too much. Everyone wanting something. Asking things. Even when they mean well, it’s like there’s no room left to breathe.”
I understood that better than I wanted to admit.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “I know that feeling.”
Her shoulders eased, like maybe she believed me. She looked out over the edge of the roof, where the moonlight shimmered across the city’s distant rooftops. “This place feels… safe.”
“It is.” I paused. “You can come up here whenever you need.”
Her gaze flicked to mine—startled, grateful, soft. “Thank you.”
I shrugged, trying not to look as thrown as I felt. “Just don’t move my tools. Ribbon gets territorial.”
Right on cue, the toad gave a sleepycroak. Hanna laughed, the sound light and real this time.
It hit me—how much I’d missed hearing it.
And just like that, the noise of the day, the weight of the memory of her capture, all of it faded into the background.
For the first time in a long while, it felt like I could breathe, too.
“Is this Ribbon?” she asked, crouching next to my Mountain Toad, and when his eyes blinked open, I could tell he’d fallen in love.
Poor sap. You’ll never be the same after this.
I ignored the ache in my chest as I watched her pat his head, stroking her gentle fingers over his fur.
I rubbed at my chest, the same ache still there. The memories that I had of her were hard to dispel, but I was trying. I didn’t want anything else except another friend.
That’s it. That’s all you need.
My best friend was Zara, but now that she and Rudgar were mated, it was difficult to spend any time with her. That was all I needed. Another friend who would make me feel less of the aching loneliness that was a constant part of my soul.
My phone pinged and I looked down at it, smiling as I realized who it was.
Speak of the she-devil herself.
Zara: I saw you dancing with Hanna. Do you have anything to say for yourself?
I rolled my eyes. Of course she’d seen us and immediately jumped to her own conclusions.
Savla: It’s none of your business.
Zara: You’re my best friend, so you’re my business. She’s my sister, so she’s my business, too. Combined, you are so much my business that it’s crazy you haven’t told me everything already.
Savla: There’s nothing to tell.
