Ryker's POV
Sleep didn't come.
I lay in the dark with my arm thrown over my eyes, staring at nothing, the image of her burned into the back of my eyelids whether they were open or closed. Ayla was curled up in Soren's bed. Small. Tucked against him. Asleep like she'd finally found somewhere safe enough to let go.
I wanted to be glad for her. I tried.
There was a pressure under my ribs that wouldn't let me get there.
Duke paced hard, back and forth, relentlessly. "She went to him."
"Yeah," I muttered. That was all I had.
I turned onto my side, jaw tight. Out of all of us—not me, not Kael, but Soren. The quiet one. The one who'd always kept his distance.
"He didn't push her," Duke said.
I scoffed under my breath. "Neither did I. Not today."
"But you did," he said.
That stuck.
I d
