Rain fell in relentless sheets, drenching the world in a bleak, rhythmic downpour. It beat down on the sea of black umbrellas clustered like mourning crows around Lila’s coffin. The gray sky wept with them, heavy and swollen with sorrow, as if the heavens themselves mourned the loss of a soul too kind for the cruel world that had devoured her.
Aria stood rooted to the spot, motionless, her heels slowly sinking into the mud. Her black coat clung to her frame, soaked through despite the umbrella Knox held over her. Her hands were clenched at her sides, gloved fingers trembling with the effort to hold herself together. Her face was pale but unyielding, her eyes fixed, unblinking, on the simple wooden coffin that had swallowed Lila whole.
She was really gone.
There had been no miracle. No l
