Lila’s POV
I look at them both and my chest feels too small for everything brimming inside it. Lior first — standing like a shield at the edge of my bed, jaw tight, eyes darker than when I last saw them, as if holding back words he’d rather throw across the room.
He looks carved out of tension, as if he’s the only thing holding the room upright. Then Liam — the way his worry folds his brow, a flicker of something raw and unsettled that I can’t place. I want to tell them everything and nothing at the same time.
Images come uninvited: Claudia’s sneer as she lit the fire in the room, Aurelia’s cool disdain that tastes like blame. They orbit these men — Claudia with her flinty smile and Aurelia with her polite cruelty — and suddenly it’s all clear and awful. They felt threatened by me. They
