Chapter 220\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are wonderful. I tell her. And they would care about you too if you gave them the chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I take a deep breath and tell her about the most important person of all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there\u2019s Tristan, 1 say, and my voice gets softer, more gentle. \u201cTristan is the person I love more than anything in the world. He\u2019s brave and furry\u00a0<\/p>\n
and kind, and he makes me feel like I\u2019m worth something even when I don\u2019t believe it myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The little girl watches my face as I talk about Tristan, and I can see her absorbing every word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018He loves me so much that he was willing to die just to give me a chance to meet you, I continue. \u201cHe knew how much pain you were in, even when I\u00a0<\/p>\n
didn\u2019t understand it myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her expression changes to one of confusion and guilt. \u201cHe wanted to die?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I say quickly, squeezing her hand again. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to die. But he was willing to risk it because he knew you needed help.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He knew you were trapped and scared and alone, and he was willing to sacrifice himself to make it possible for us to have this conversation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI hurt him,\u201d she whispers, and fresh tears start falling down her cheeks. \u201cI was trying to take his life away. I was killing him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were scared,\u201d I remind her gently. \u201cYou didn\u2019t know any other way to respond. But now you know better. Now you know that he\u2019s not trying to hurt\u00a0<\/p>\n
you or lock you away. He\u2019s trying to help you, just like I am.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She nods slowly, beginning to understand, but the guilt is still written all over her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he really dead?\u201d she asks in a small voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know, I admit. \u201cBut we can find out together. We can try to help him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you like to help him?\u201d I ask. \u201cWould you like to give back what you took?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t know how,\u2018 she says, but there\u2019s hope in her voice now instead of just despair. \u201cI\u2019ve never tried to give life before. I\u2019ve only ever taken it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can show you,\u201d I promise. \u201cBut first, you have to come with me. You have to leave this dark place and let me help you learn new things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looks around at the endless blackness surrounding us, at the place that\u2019s been her prison for so many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the only place I\u2019ve ever known,\u201d she says, and I can hear the fear in her voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I know,\u201d I say gently. \u201cBut there\u2019s so much more than this. There\u2019s sunlight and laughter and people who will love you if you let them. There\u2019s warmth\u00a0<\/p>\n
and happiness and all sorts of beautiful things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if I hurt them?\u201d she asks, and the fear in her voice breaks my heart. \u201cWhat if I can\u2019t control myself and I take their life away?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we\u2019ll figure it out together,\u201d I promise. \u201cI won\u2019t abandon you or try to lock you away like everyone else did. I\u2019ll teach you how to control your\u00a0<\/p>\n
power so you only use to help people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She stares at me for a long moment, searching my face for any sign that I might be lying or that I might change my mind later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
0013\u00a0<\/p>\n
O\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
17:53 Tue, Jan 13 GRM.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 220\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really promise? she asks finally,\u00a0<\/p>\n
I promise,\u201d I say, and 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
hold out my other hand to her. \u201cWill\u00a0<\/p>\n
you\u00a0<\/p>\n
come with me? Will you let me help you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This time, she takes both\u00a0<\/p>\n
of my\u00a0<\/p>\n
hands without hesitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment our fingers touch, the darkness\u00a0<\/p>\n
breaking after the longest\u00a0<\/p>\n
around us\u00a0<\/p>\n
begins\u00a0<\/p>\n
to brighten. It\u2019s not sudden\u00a0<\/p>\n
or jarring, but\u00a0<\/p>\n
a gradual lightening\u00a0<\/p>\n
that feels like dawn\u00a0<\/p>\n
night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do I\u00a0<\/p>\n
help him? she asks as the world starts to shift and change\u00a0<\/p>\n
around us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Think about giving instead of taking.\u201d tell her. \u201cThink about all the life force you pulled from him and imagine pushing it back. Think about love and\u00a0<\/p>\n
healing and making things better instead of worse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
she\u2019s\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can feel her concentrating, feel her trying to\u00a0<\/p>\n
trying with everything she has.\u00a0<\/p>\n
reverse\u00a0<\/p>\n
what she\u00a0<\/p>\n
did. It\u2019s not easy for her, going against every instinct she\u2019s developed\u00a0<\/p>\n
over the\u00a0<\/p>\n
years, but\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 220 Chapter 220\u00a0 \u201cThey are wonderful. I tell her. And they would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}