Chapter 101 Not Even A Simple Wish

• [XENA]
• Astrid continues to watch me, her brows faintly drawn. “What happened?” she asks. Her voice is gentle enough that it almost makes me answer honestly, say it out loud—that it’s my birthday. But it feels like something I shouldn’t have remembered at all.
• I stop myself before the words can form properly and shake my head instead, forcing a small, dismissive breath out of me as I say, “No, it’s nothing.”