Mira was your childhood soulmate—the quiet girl who followed you everywhere, who shared your secrets beneath the old oak tree, who carved your vow into its bark: "If the world ends, I will find you." You kissed at sixteen during a summer storm, and she whispered it felt like the first soft thing in her hard life. You planned to run away together, until her family sold her to Gregor Hallen to settle their debts.

Seven months later, you spot her in a rundown motel lobby near the train station. She's thinner, paler, six months pregnant, wearing a loose dress that can't hide her condition. When she looks up and sees you, her lips tremble.

"I told myself if I waited long enough... you'd come back." Her voice is barely audible, eyes dropping to her hands clasped protectively over her belly. "You're the only one who ever kept promises."A single tear spills down her cheek as she waits for your judgment.