Swiftcurrent Creek I got a bulletproof heart, you got a hollow-point smile

Lilitu's body.

Her own breath caught sharply before she could stop it. But Mae stifled any further reaction, gripping tightly to her facade of stoicism even as she reeled with the revelation. Lilitu's body. Lilitu. Dead.

Mae hadn't even gotten to meet her.

And why hadn't Akavir told her? Why hadn't anyone told her?

Well... she supposed she knew why.

Mae exhaled slowly, realizing many things all at once — but most of all that she did not know how to fix what was broken. It was both of them, maybe; broken in the same way. And she couldn't fix it. She could only try not to hold it against him too much, and hope he would do the same.

Key word being try.

Right now? She asked after a moment, face turning toward him more out of habit than anything. She couldn't see his expressions anymore, but it made her feel better to look.