Elara's POV
Orion turned to me, and for once he didn't look like he was giving an order. He was trying to be patient.
"I know this has been hard on you. It's been hard on me too. But we have our answer now. It was all that greedy professor, Wescott. My men are already hunting him down, and he'll get the worst sentence on the books." His voice went softer. "The one who did this should be the one who pays. Not Celeste. We can't dump our pain on an innocent woman. You see that, right?"
I started laughing. It came out hollow. Scraped dry. I had no tears left. Not one more for any of this.
And I hated myself for it. For that stupid little sliver of hope I'd been carrying around. That he might change. That some part of him was still worth the wait. How dumb could I be, still expecting decenc
