Aria’s POV
My heart was pounding, practically echoing in my ears as I replayed Drake’s words over and over. I made a mistake. Just hearing him say it had me spiraling, like the room had suddenly become ten times smaller and every exit was blocked. Drake was really standing here, right in front of me, admitting he’d been wrong. After everything—after all the pain and humiliation, the nights spent alone wondering what I’d done wrong—now he was saying it was a mistake. And I couldn’t tell if that made me furious or just... sad.
I thought back to how sure I’d been that we were meant for each other, how his bond had once been the only thing that felt real in my life. I’d trusted him, poured everything into that bond, convinced that he was my future. But then he’d gone to Zelda, and every time
