Ashriel
I was wrong. Completely, utterly wrong. After that moment in the library, that strange, quiet minute when Aurelia had leaned into me, when her fingers had brushed my hair, I’d thought maybe I was getting somewhere. I’d thought I’d found a crack in her walls, a tiny opening into the confusing maze that was her heart. I’d even smiled, for crying out loud, walking out of that room like some lovesick fool.
But Aurelia was a harder puzzle than I’d ever imagined. A few pieces, I’d thought? No. She was a thousand scattered fragments, each one sharper and more elusive than the last.
After the library, she avoided me like a plague. If she saw me in the halls, she’d turn sharply, ducking into the nearest room or hurrying away with her head down. If I tried to approach her during a pack me
