The image of her walking away, soaked to the bone with that little girl on her hip, was burned into my mind. Seraphina had just saved a child's life without hesitation, and when I tried to help, she looked at me like I was nothing but dirt beneath her feet.
Luna Seraphina.
Even the formal title stung. Once, she'd said my name with such warmth it could melt the coldest winter. Now her voice held nothing but ice when she addressed me.
I stood there like an idiot, my shirt still in my outstretched hand, watching droplets of water create a trail where she'd walked away. Something inside me cracked open—a feeling I'd been trying to bury for years.
"Fuck," I whispered, lowering my arm.
I still loved her.
The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. All these years of hatred, of punishing her for a betrayal that suddenly seemed foggy in my memory... and underneath it all, the love had never died. It had just festered, twisted into something ugly.
