Maria.
I didn't realize how long I had been sitting there, lost in my own thoughts, until my mind started spiraling again.
Time had passed without meaning. Minutes and maybe more. Everything around me had faded into the background, leaving only the noise in my head—loud, relentless, impossible to quiet.
Everything felt… wrong.
Not just confusing, not just complicated but totally wrong.
Adrien's mark burned faintly beneath the scarf wrapped around my neck, a subtle heat against my skin that refused to be ignored. It wasn't painful, not exactly, but it was there. Constant. Persistent. Like a reminder etched into me that something irreversible had already happened.
Something I couldn't undo.
Davian's actions came right after, tangled with that memory, making everything even harder to understand. His presence, his choices they blurred whatever clarity I thought I had left, leaving behind nothing but questions I couldn't answer.
And Noah…
