i was your lizaveta. the one you never meant to hurt, the one you never thought twice about cutting to the bone, and the one you barely spared a second to regret. i doubt you even thought of me most days. you were everything, and i was nothing — the way it always had been. but some nights i laid awake wondering if you knew.

i was collateral damage. i had simply come to the wrong place at the wrong time, and there i found you. i never stood a chance.

but the truth was that i would have knelt before you and taken every blow, because dying by your hand would have been a blessing.