Tabulae looked at the man who had called her talented. Not as a grandfather. Not as family.
Only as trash that pretended to care when things went well.
Eldric rested a hand on her head and patted once, gentle enough not to feel like pity.
"In your heart, they are your enemy," Eldric said.
He pointed toward Biscuit and Shortbread, laughing now, already moving on with their day as if nothing had happened.
"For them, you are strangers," Eldric continued. "Their life goes on, yet you keep the anger inside."
His eyes stayed on Tabulae.
"Who do you think wins in the end?"
Tabulae's fingers loosened on her robe. The fantasies of punishment, the thousands of sufferings she had wanted to give them, all of it suddenly felt heavy and childish in her hands.
In the end, she was only a young girl. Wronged. Lacking experience. Robbed of the right to love without fear.
Eldric's smile softened into something knowing.
