EMBER’S POV
But he didn’t write that — did he? He couldn’t have.
Knox doesn’t say things like that. Knox barely admits to liking things, let alone loving them.
Knox doesn’t do feelings, or commitment, or long-term declarations — and I hate that in this moment my heart yearns bitterly for it to be him.
It yearns to such a painful degree that it’s a physical pang in my chest.
But I know too well how much that sets me up for disappointment.
I like you a lot, Ember. That was his truth.
Like. Not love.
Never love.
Rafael is watching me too, his expression carefully neutral but his eyes dark with something that makes my skin prickle.
Even Nathaniel’s gaze has softened slightly, flickering to Queenie beside him before snapping back to the middle distance.
“Well,” Rayana murmurs. “Isn’t
