The First Luna
They had just reached the threshold of the outer gates, the carriage horses stomping their hooves in readiness, when a ragged, breathless figure emerged from the castle shadow.
It was Ethan.
His uniform was torn, his hair was disheveled, and his gray-brown eyes were wide with a desperate, chaotic pain. He didn't look like a general; he looked like a broken man watching his entire life slip through his fingers. He stopped a few paces away, his voice cracking as he shouted across the gravel.
"Lane! Just tell me one thing..." Ethan panted, clutching his bruised ribs. "Did you... did you ever truly love me? Did a single day of our past mean anything to you?"