♠ SYLVARA ♠
The next day came with a dull ache and a stiffness that clung to every movement like punishment.
I blinked groggily, trying to move, but the stiffness in my muscles protested with every stretch. A low groan escaped my lips. Even breathing felt like work. I reached out instinctively, searching the other side of the bed for warmth—his warmth—but all I met was cool, empty fabric.
No heartbeat. No breath. No presence.
Just absence.
The kind that hums in the silence, loud enough to make your chest ache.
“Darius?” I called softly, my voice still husky from sleep.
Only the whisper of wind answered.
Then memory came flooding back—the fall, the sharp pain, his arms around me just before everything faded into darkness. Shame followed close behind. I remembered the way he’d looked
