Chapter 99Sonia's POV
Since graduation, my life has been nothing but a gray blur.
Every day melted into the next. wake up, throw on my greasy café apron, spend hours balancing trays and scrubbing tables, and then drag myself home too exhausted to think. My old classmates had all moved on, scattered to universities, cities, new lives. Meanwhile, I was stuck here, wiping crumbs from tables for customers who barely looked at me.
All because I couldn't afford college.
And worse? Lily wasn't here anymore. She was off in the palace, swallowed by Joe's world, and cut off from the rest of us. If she were still around, we'd have figured things out together. Things always seemed to work out when she was nearby. Since she left… everything went south.
I hated Joe for that. I didn't care if he was sick or cursed or whatever rumor floated around about him. He'd taken her from us, and the void she left in my life was unbearable.
