Odette's POV
I didn't realize I was crying until I tasted salt on my lips.
The tears came quietly at first—just that aching tightness in my chest that builds until something breaks. I pressed the heel of my palms against my eyes, but it was useless. The tears had already decided. They slipped down my face in warm, silent trails.
I hated that she made me cry.
I hated that he made me cry even more.
The room was still, yet it felt crowded—like every word Mara refused to say still lingered in the air, whispering at me, mocking me. "No bond." "I wasn't saying anything." Lies, all of them. I could hear lies as easily as I could feel sunlight on my skin.
I curled my knees up against my chest, resting my forehead against them. My hair, still tangled from earlier, brushed my cheeks and stuck to the tears. I must've looked ridiculous—blind, furious, pathetic, sitting on the edge of a bed that wasn't mine, in a place I never wanted to be.
