Chapter 65

Mikhail

The silence between us is suffocating, pressing down on me with a weight I didn’t know I could bear.

I steal a glance at Sophia walking beside me, her face expresses nothing, calmness. But I can sense the storm beneath her composed exterior, the whirlwind of emotions she’s trying so hard to hide. I know I’m the cause of that storm, and the guilt twists like a knife in my gut.

I never meant to hurt her.

But I did.

I don't know if she will ever forgive me for that.

And I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for that.

For so long, I fought against this bond, against what the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. I was a fool, too blind and too stubborn to see what was right in front of me. I was too caught up in my own foolishness, my own insecurities, to realize that Sophia was everything I ever needed. That she was the one I’d been searching for, even when I didn’t know it myself.

I took her for granted.

Took us for granted.

I never wanted to accept it—the bond, the love, the co