"You can't buy power?" Celeste asked, surprised.
"You can… but not always. Sometimes power buys silence, and that in itself is power. But when real power speaks, money no longer matters. That's just how the world works," Wouter finished, then looked over to Celeste, who was stunned.
Sometimes, he forgot that Celeste, despite everything she did, was just a young girl. Younger than all of them. The shine in her eyes was bright when he met her the first time. But just like all light that shines, it dims over time. The same as now.
That shine was replaced by shock, grief, disbelief, and powerlessness. Wouter never saw that light in Jade. But he did see it reignited. Slowly, once upon a time, that light started to flicker back to life, and it was his greatest joy. And now, he wondered if it would ever come back. For that, he was afraid.
