For a moment after the word left their lips, everything seemed to hold its breath.
Then it shattered.
The smaller figure beneath me began to struggle harder, her movements no longer calculated but frantic, desperate in a way that no longer resembled an attack. Her body trembled beneath my hold, uneven and unsteady, and then the silence broke with a sound so raw it caught me off guard.
A sob.
"Mother… Mother…"
The word came out broken, her voice cracking as though it had been held back for far too long. The strength she had shown moments ago dissolved into something fragile, something painfully real, and for a second, I did not move. My gaze flickered toward Lirael, who was still on the floor, her expression softened despite the state she was in.
