One possibility that Anya won't let creep into her mind is what would she would be like if Gleb had been the one to leave and Dmitry had remained. The thought had crept in earlier, tightened her chest like a vice grip, making it hard to breathe as her heart started to stutter. The pain and guilt from losing Dmitry was one thing, a different sort of hurt, but losing Gleb.

Losing Gleb would shatter her.

She doesn't want to be broken again. Not like this, not in this or any way.

Her eyes widen as she shakes her head, reaching out to knot her fingers in the front of his shirt. "No, Gleb," her words are emphatic. "I don't wish that for a moment. He wouldn't listen to me, refused to hear what I said, put words in my mouth, made me a liar. It feels like I banished him, but if he had stayed and you had left? I wouldn't have picked him. I would have wished to follow you."