Cassandra chokes out a gasp as she comes out of the memory, a sob catching in her throat. She’s… horrified, and she feels sick. She doesn’t… she’s never wanted anyone to know. (She never wants anyone to know anything about her time with the Briarwoods.) One of her worst memories has been laid bare before an almost-stranger. (There are a great deal of worst memories associated with the Briarwoods.)
And now someone knows. Inej has witnessed it, had witnessed every heartbreaking moment. She wants to flee, wants to hide, but she’s frozen in place, distantly noticing distantly the religious gesture, the murmured prayer. Inej takes her hands, and she has to force herself to look up at the other girl, to meet her gaze. It wasn’t her fault. It was whatever was going on that caused it. But it doesn’t make Cassandra feel any less… raw. Vulnerable. Exposed. “Thank you,” she manages, voice ragged. “I don’t… no one knows. I’ve never told anyone.” She swallows. “Not even my brother.” That is a complicated, tangled relationship, one that had scarcely begun to… she wouldn’t say heal, necessarily. Exist again. It had scarcely begun to exist again before she’d been brought here.
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And now someone knows. Inej has witnessed it, had witnessed every heartbreaking moment. She wants to flee, wants to hide, but she’s frozen in place, distantly noticing distantly the religious gesture, the murmured prayer. Inej takes her hands, and she has to force herself to look up at the other girl, to meet her gaze. It wasn’t her fault. It was whatever was going on that caused it. But it doesn’t make Cassandra feel any less… raw. Vulnerable. Exposed. “Thank you,” she manages, voice ragged. “I don’t… no one knows. I’ve never told anyone.” She swallows. “Not even my brother.” That is a complicated, tangled relationship, one that had scarcely begun to… she wouldn’t say heal, necessarily. Exist again. It had scarcely begun to exist again before she’d been brought here.