Qeya River brother's blood

star eater sucked in a breath, slow and sharp, as if the air itself had turned to glass in her lungs. silence stretched between them, heavy and unmoving, thick as the blood that once bound them.
she had known. perhaps not in certainty, not in words spoken aloud, but she had known. still, the weight of it settled deep, curling itself around her ribs like a vice.
her gaze did not waver from gjalla, though something within her shifted—something old and aching, something she had buried beneath duty and fire.
and then, after what felt like an eternity, she exhaled.
how are you doing?
her voice was softer than it should have been, quieter than the storm she felt within her chest. she did not ask why. she knew why. it was on her husband's order.