People don't change.
They may grow and put on appearances, they may get better at pretending to be something they are not, but down at the very core, in the quiet places where no one else can look — they remain precisely who they have always been.
Their instincts don't change.
They can bury them beneath layers of discipline and education, morality and experience. They can convince themselves that they are different now, that they have evolved beyond the person they used to be.
But when the right moment arrives and when the right pressure is applied, their mask begins to crack and their real self underneath always reaches out.
That was why, no matter how much Ivan seemed like he had changed, no matter how much strength he had gained, and no matter how majestic he looked in the crushing depths of the Great Divide—
Viktor still recognized him.
