If you want to know the truth, [ he says this lightly, like an offering. something to give Holland, if he wants it. An olive branch, ] I've always hated parties. And they happen so often.

[ Kell is more at ease out here, too, in the gardens than he was when they were in the ballroom. ]

I never understood why Rhy couldn't handle them on his own. He was the one everyone wanted to see, after all. But I went to be stared at anyway.

[ A possession, more than a son. But he doesn't say that out loud. It seems silly, after what Holland had talked about. And silly after how Lila had yelled at him about his circumstance. That didn't change how he felt, but he knew better than to bring it up. ]

It's hard not to feel like that'll happen here. We're both practically anonymous in this world, and yet...I don't think casting off expectation is as easy as stepping through a door.