Page 347 of Eternal
It doesn’t feel awkward, it doesn’t feel like pity, it feels likehome.
“I can’t imagine what happened in that house,” he says quietly. “I’ve tried. For years. I wondered what you went through. But the truth is, I can’t picture it.”
I press my forehead to his shoulder, silent.
“But I’m here now,” he continues. “And no one’s ever going to hurt you like that again. Not while I’m breathing. Not while Kat’s breathing.”
I nod against him. “I don’t know if I can finish this.”
“You don’t have to.”
“But should I?” I ask, voice shaking. “Should I keep going? I feel like... if I stop now, it’s stupid.Selfish.”
“If you want to finish,” he says, “I’ll help you. Like I always did. I’ll walk through it with you.”
I let that sit, let the silence hold me for a moment, then I whisper, “I think I need to. Not for me.” Viktor waits. “For the kids,” I continue. “For the ones still in it. The ones who never made it out.”
He doesn’t say anything right away, but he pulls me closer, resting his chin lightly against the top of my head.
“You always cared too much,” he murmurs. “Even when we were little.”
“I don’t know any other way.”
“Good,” he says. “Don’t change that. I want you to let us be here while you do it.”
I close my eyes. Breathe in his scent, clean, warm, familiar. The world doesn’t stop spinning. The pain doesn’t leave.
But I don’t feel alone in it anymore.
Kat returns a few minutes later, balancing three mismatched bowls in her arms.
She sits cross-legged on the rug and hands one to me first, then Viktor. She doesn’t say much, she just has a tired, quiet smile, and then starts eating her own food.
We eat in silence for a few minutes.
The yogurt is cold. The cereal’s a little soggy already. But it tastes like childhood. Like mornings before school. Like when life wasn’t all sad.
Viktor glances at me over the rim of his bowl, eyes narrowing. Then he shifts slightly on the couch, tilts his head.
“So,” he says, drawing the word out.
I look at him, suspicious. “What.”
“I was trying to be respectful, given the tears and trauma and the whole emotional breakdown thing…” He leans in, smirking now. “But let’s talk about the elephant in the room.”
Kat raises an eyebrow. “What elephant?”
Viktor gestures with his spoon toward my neck. “That massive hickey you’re trying to hide under your hair.”
I nearly choke on a bite of cereal.
Kat’s eyes light up. “Ohhh, really? Azra!”
I groan and drop my spoon into the bowl. “I hate you both.”
“I knew it,” Viktor says, grinning now. “Damir. You two are back to being partners, huh?”
“Professional partners,” I mumble, cheeks burning.
