The sky still wore its pre-dawn blues when Aria opened her eyes. Sheets tangled around her waist. Her body was stiff. Her chest is tight.
Xander’s scent lingered in the linen—cedarwood and rain.
His side of the bed? Cold.
She rolled over anyway, hand searching for him out of habit.
He was already gone.
As always.
Pulled away by duties she was never invited to share.
Aria lay there for a while, staring at the soft shadows across the ceiling. Then sat up slowly, the quiet pressing in around her like fog. The kind that didn’t lift.
She wrapped the blanket around herself and padded to the dresser. No clean clothes. Laundry is still untouched downstairs. Her options? None.
Then she spotted it.
A white button-down shirt.
Xander’s.
She paused.
Then pulled it on.
It hung off her shou
