Chapter 53

Tristan shifted Avery against him and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. For the last three days he had laid in his bed and held Avery’s naked body against his own. He had left her for only a few minutes at a time—to use the bathroom and check on Sophia—ignoring Maya’s offer to lie with her sister for a longer period of time.

As the days passed and Avery did not wake, he could feel his certainty that she would heal herself fading. He ignored it grimly, clinging like a man drowning, to the idea that any moment she would wake and smile at him.

The door opened and Vivian, Maya and Marshall filed in. They stood around his bed, staring down at him, and fear trickled into his belly.

“What?” he asked. “What is it?”

His mother glanced at the others. “Tristan, my sweet boy, it has been three days. Never before has Avery taken this long to heal herself. I’m so sorry, my love, but I—we—believe that she is never going to wake up.”

He stared mutely at her, his ey