"When was this exactly?" Ezra asks, his voice coming out tighter than he intended, the question cutting through the air more sharply than before. "Do you remember the exact dates?"
Alyce blinks, clearly taken aback by the sudden shift in him, the way his tone lost its softness.
"Oh, uh…" she starts, her fingers tightening slightly around her teacup as she tries to recall. "He stayed with us around the third day of the month of March, he stayed for a whole week, so he left around—"
'Don't say the 10th day of March…'
"—the 10th day of March."
Ezra's heart stopped.
No—
It broke.
Not quietly.
Not gradually.
It felt like something inside him shattered all at once, sharp and sudden, like glass cracking under pressure before collapsing into nothing.
He could almost hear it.
That sound.
That break.
That was the day he and Helios met.
That day.
The one he held onto for years.
The one he built everything on.
That meant—
