EMBER WELLESLEY’S POV
It’s late. The kind of late where everything is too quiet and the air feels too heavy. I shouldn’t have come to Asher like this—hair unbrushed, eyes red, jacket pulled on inside out. But I didn’t care. I just needed someone who still had a thread to me.
I sat on the steps and stared at the pavement like it might rearrange itself into something that made sense.
“Can you find her?” I asked.
Asher leaned against the railing, arms crossed. His silence was thick, but I knew he was listening.
“Ava,” I said, voice catching on her name. “Can you use your connect, or whatever it is you still have, and bring her back to me? Even just for five minutes.” I added.
He didn’t respond right away. Just shifted, like my words made him uncomfortable.
“She won’t answer me. Not ev
