Chapter 42: Red Blurred Into Orange (1)
Eriksson’s POV
“I was a son, a husband, and a father. But at most, a man with a face. Now I am not.”
–– Eriksson Lennard
With trembling hands, I brush a lock of rust-colored hair from her cheek.
The motion is gentle. Reverent. My fingers hover after the touch, unwilling to leave. Her skin is pale beneath the firelight, soft like the earth back home—the soil I buried my heart in.
She isn’t Casandra.
But a part of me still hopes.
The tears are gone. My eyes are clear, dry. Still, something in my chest coils at the sight of her. The resemblance isn’t exact, not even close—but the way her cheek curves, the way her lashes catch the glow, the way her breath stutters when I sit too close...
It anchors me.
It hurts.
Because I know the truth. She’s not my daughter. She never will be.