Ari stood frozen long after Riven broke eye contact and turned away.
The street didn’t pause with him. People passed. Someone laughed somewhere too loudly, too casually. The world kept moving with an indifference that felt almost cruel.
Across the street, Riven’s broad back disappeared into the crowd.
And Ari felt something inside him crack.
Not loudly. Not cleanly.
It was the quiet kind of break the one he was gradually getting used to that spreads slowly every time Riven was around, it splinted under the surface until everything hurts to touch.
He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until his chest burned and he gasped, fingers tightening around the edge of the cafe counter. His knees threatened to give out. For a terrifying second, he thought they might.
He had prepared
