Alina’s POV
I sat beside Edrick on the plane, but it felt like I wasn’t really in my body.
My fingers trembled uncontrollably in my lap, and I tried to clasp them together, to hold them still, to pretend I wasn’t falling apart from the inside out.
Everything felt cold.
My skin.
My bones.
Even the air breathing in and out of my lungs.
The last time I had been on this plane, my heart had been climbing up my throat in dread. I hated every second of it. I had wanted to run so badly, run far away from the island, from the ruse, from him, from this entire controlled illusion I forced myself into.
And now… sitting here again…
I still wanted to run.
Only this time, I wanted to run from going home.
I wasn’t ready.
I didn’t want to face what waited for me on the ground.
I didn’t want to
