Camilla's POV
The plate sat untouched before me, steam no longer rising from what had once been a warm meal. A full day had passed since Joy left this world, yet her absence felt like a gaping wound that refused to heal. Every breath reminded me of what I'd lost, every heartbeat echoed with her name.
Eden's voice drifted in and out of my awareness, sometimes barely a whisper, other times cutting through the numbness that had settled over me like a burial shroud. She was lecturing me again, the way she always did when my grief threatened to consume me completely.
"Camilla, for heaven's sake, are you trying to waste away to nothing?" Her words carried that familiar mix of exasperation and genuine concern.
The word waste made me look up from the cold food. Waste seemed like such a gentle word compared to what I felt inside. Everything felt like waste now, including myself. If Joy couldn't be here, what was the point of anything else?
