Aria
It wasn't a conscious thought, more like a door swinging open on its own. The image of her on the floor, the blood spreading dark and wide beneath her, her hand still reaching. The way she looked at me. The way she said my name in those last few seconds.
The way she'd been quietly dismantling my life for over a decade and I'd called her my person.
My chest cracked open all over again.
Because even with everything, even knowing what she did, knowing every single thing she took from me and every lie she told and every time she smiled at me while hating me, I had loved her.
Genuinely, completely loved her. And that kind of love doesn't just turn off because you find out it wasn't returned the way you thought. It just sits there and hurts.
I cried harder without meaning to.
Kael held me tighter without saying a word, like he somehow knew this wave was different from the last one.
