اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
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Once when they were children, Ayaan threw a rock at Zoya's head for refusing to share a special desert Akiv Vitaan had left out the night before when he'd returned home. It struck, anguish and blood spraying. It struck, damaging the bond they'd wound tightly since Zoya was born. It struck, and Zoya was shown the fallibility of trust for the first time—and it would not be the last.
The scar lies hidden against her upper forehead for years; keeping bangs cut long, she hides it like a spot of weakness, a spot that if touched, her bones would crumble into structureless ash. Her parents never find out; Ayaan apologizes profusely and nearly falls over himself trying to make it up to her. He cleans and presses a bandage against it, and her first bangs are cut before Vésma wakes.
"Don't tell," he whispers when they go to bed. It is innocent enough, but the press of his fingers into her wrist tells a different story, one that she cannot ignore, and so Zoya agrees silently.
The unspoken oath persists over years of separation and tears fallen crystal light against throats until Ayaan wounds her once more.
Caught in Nevarro's dusty halo, wreathed in confusion and pain, Zoya fires a shot that kills both her brother and the scarred-over promises she's kept within her heart for years. His shot renders her left leg unusable and damaged, and her promise has finally been fulfilled.
Don't tell.
Ayaan takes their secret to his grave.
When her hair grows again, Zoya does not cut it.
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The desert is eerily still; nothing moves save the grains of sand the speeder bike stirs up as it rockets over the softly swelling dunes and valleys of glittering gold. It's the end of a lullaby: peaceful, soft, quiet, it nearly lulls Zoya to sleep as she rests her cheek against Din's back, fingers curling into each other hooked across his abdomen. For a while, nothing else exists, but him, and she dreams, just for a few minutes, of staying in this moment for eternity, of ignoring the rest of the world and the unknown force building within her chest, of staying in soft auroras of sunlight with Din and the child for the remainder of her days.
But when the speeder catapults up vertically, sending Din, Zoya, the child, and all their supplies somersaulting through the air, it's clear that this illusion will never come to be.
Din partially catches himself with his jetpack, staggering to a halt, but Zoya and the child smash into the sands. Her heart and dreams ripped asunder, she rolls to a halt, struggling to draw in a breath through lungs crushed in an iron fist. For a moment, it seems she will die of oxygen deprivation, but she rolls over and coughs violently, sucking in air.
