-Elias Grayson:
My heart didn't crack.
It shattered.
The sound that left my mouth didn't even feel human. It tore out of my throat before I could stop it, raw and broken and disbelieving.
"No," I said.
It wasn't a refusal.
It was a plea.
It was denial.
It was the desperate rejection of a reality I refused to accept.
Aurelian stood in front of us, his face unreadable, his posture rigid like he had already made peace with something the rest of us hadn't even begun to understand.
"No, we don't."
The words echoed inside my skull.
I stared at him, my vision blurring, my chest tightening so violently I could barely breathe.
"What do you mean?" I whispered.
He didn't answer immediately.
He just started walking backward.
Away from me.
Away from us.
Each step felt like a knife sliding deeper into my chest.
I reached for him without thinking, my fingers wrapping around his wrist, clinging to him like he was the only thing keeping me grounded.
