Chapter 7: Pain in the ashes

The rain came down in sheets, the cold droplets soaking through my clothes as I lay on the sand, shivering. My body was numb from the cold and the exhaustion of holding everything inside—my pain, my anger, my heartbreak. I could still see the outline of the ship as it sailed away, carrying Azriel and my mother far from me, as if they were slipping through my fingers, just like everything else in my life.

Azriel. How could he not see me? How could he be so blind? My love for him was as deep as the ocean in front of me, vast and endless, and yet he saw only her. Agatha, the woman who had abandoned me, left me to fend for myself, and now she was back, taking everything that mattered.

The tears blended with the rain, my sobs drowned out by the crashing waves. My chest heaved, but no sound came, just the silent scream of someone broken beyond repair.

"Lilianna," a voice cut through the storm. I didn't have to look to know who it was. My father.

He knelt beside me, pulling me into his arms