Lila’s POV
I still hear his words even as silence settles between us.
“Then stay here. Until they come for you.”
The offer echoes in my mind, clinging like something warm on a bitter night. I don’t know why it hits me the way it does—soft, steady, tempting—but it does. And despite myself, my heart bleeds at the sound of it. The kindness in his tone. The simplicity of it all.
Stay.
I want to say I’m not moved. That I don’t feel the pull.
But I do.
God, I do.
I won’t lie to myself—this offer, this room, this meal… It’s all too much. Too good. My eyes drop to the half-finished bowl in front of me. The kind of food I never get to eat unless it’s leftovers someone else threw out. Rich, seasoned, like something from a palace. And then my thoughts flicker back to the room I woke up in. Ve
