“I shut up everything inside. Everything." Words ground out through clenched teeth. "I thought if I could hold it, just hold it, it would be fine. But it's not."

"Why?" she asked. "Why are you losing control so badly?"

The answer, when it came, broke Sascha's heart.

"Hawke." It was an almost soundless whisper.

"Oh, Sienna." She stroked her hand over the girl's hair, even as her mind worked at piercing speed. "Has it been cumulative?"

Sienna nodded. "The second I met him, everything crumbled, my shields, my conditioning, everything!”