"Listen to me, Lyra."
"Let go."
"Lyra."
Her voice was low and calm. She sounded like an adult talking to a child who was being difficult. Elara didn't move an inch. She didn't look upset at all. That was the problem. I was falling apart, my feelings were screaming, and she was as still as a stone. Seeing her so calm made a fire start to burn deep inside me.
"We!" I gasped.
My breath was heavy and hard to catch. I rubbed my eyes roughly with my free hand, the skin stinging from the salt of my tears.
"We were never balanced, Elara. From the very start, one of us was always holding all the weight. When a thing is that uneven, it has to collapse eventually."
It wasn't just about the money or the status. It was the love. We were sitting on a seesaw that was tipped so far in her favor that I was dangling in the air, terrified. Her marriage was just the thing that broke the board, but I knew now that we would have hit the ground sooner or later anyway.
