Alina’s POV
I couldn’t look away from Edrick.
He stood beside his father’s bed, shoulders stiff, jaw locked so tightly I could see the muscle ticking. He was trying to be strong. He always did, but I could feel the cracks beneath the surface. The way his fingers hovered over his father’s hand but didn’t quite touch. The way his eyes kept drifting to the machines, the tubes, the mask… like he was silently begging them to stop existing.
He hated seeing his father like this.
Anyone could see it.
Even me.
I wanted so badly to comfort him. To reach for him. To say something. To pull him against me and let him break if he needed to.
But he didn’t look like he wanted to be touched.
He didn’t look like he wanted to talk.
He just stood there, still as stone, like if he moved even a little,
