Chapter 182: The Second Reading
Lyria's POV
Jacinta smiled at me.
It was a tight, careful thing that did not reach her eyes at all.
I pretended not to notice.
I looked down at the parchment in my hands instead, as though composing myself before a task I found mildly challenging rather than one I was quietly terrified of.
The first word was home.
I knew that word. I knew its shape, the curve of the h, the way the rest of it followed. Patricia had made certain I knew that one early.
I read further, slowly, letting my eyes move across each line before I allowed my voice to follow.
The words were not difficult.
That was the first thing I noticed, and something loosened very slightly in my chest because of it.
They were plain words, plainly arranged, and yet they carried something underneath them that the plainness itself seemed almost deliberate about concealing.
I lifted my head.
And then I began.
Home.
Such a small word for so large a thing.
