POV: Kael
The bond was wrong.
I knew it before I opened my eyes, before I turned over and found her beside me, breathing softly in the dark. Something in the tether between us had shifted, frayed, or maybe frayed further. It was like holding a string pulled tight between my hands, only to find one end turning to smoke.
She looked like Aria.
She smelled like Aria.
But when she touched me, I felt… nothing.
Not the warmth of her soul, not the pulse of our connection.
Just silence.
I lay there for minutes—maybe longer—watching the rise and fall of her chest. Her skin shimmered in the moonlight pouring through the window. She looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
I brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“Aria,” I whispered.
Her eyes opened slowly.
And for the first time, I realized they
