The old woman shook her head slowly. Her face didn't change, but her refusal landed like a closed door.
"There are truths that cannot be shared," she said.
Riley stood beside me, quiet for once. She had come here to support me, but now the weight had shifted onto her too. I could see it in her eyes she was trying to understand something that didn't have a clean answer.
I stepped closer anyway, my voice turning rough with urgency. "Is there really no other way? Does it have to be life for life? Isn't there any loophole at all?"
She met my gaze without blinking. "This is your trial," she said simply. "To pass it, you face it as it is. Life for life. There is no alternative."
I swallowed hard.
I had suspected it. Lewis wouldn't have gone this far if there was another option.
I forced myself to breathe. "If the trial hasn't come yet… that means I can still live for now, right?"
She didn't answer, so I pushed forward, words spilling out before I could stop them.
