(Lina)
As Elara left, I felt the tension in my body slowly start to loosen, but not entirely. Her words remained in the air like a foul stench.
She thought she had power over me, that she could tear me down with a few spiteful words and a well-placed sneer. But she was wrong. I'd been through worse, much worse, and if she thought I'd crumble from her insults, she didn't know me at all.
It still stung, though. I hated that. I hated that even after everything, her words could get under my skin. I hated her smug smile, the way she looked at me like I was some stain she couldn't quite scrub out of her perfect palace. It made me want to scream, to shout and tell her that I wasn't going anywhere no matter what she or Nicholas thought.
