Chapter 573. No Girls Allowed

It’s morning. Early morning–still too early for the sun to breach the mountains and send light spilling over the village of Silverhide. 

I roll over on the couch, wrapped in a thick blanket, and stare at the dying embers in the stone fireplace across the room. 

I haven’t slept. Pain echoes through my body, settling deep in my bones. It’s not a sharp, bright pain. It’s the kind that aches and throbs–a dull thrum of noise that makes it impossible to focus, let alone close my eyes and rest. 

I feel empty. Empty, and alone. 

‘Why did you do this to me?’ I ask through the sliver of bond I still share with Cole… I hope. I hung on so tight when he rejected me, refusing to let him do it. 

But his voice is no longer in my head. 

My eyes are dry and rimmed red as I watch the embers flicker like stars against a sea of darkness. I have no tears left to cry. I used them up. They’re gone. 

Ryan and Aviva’s bedroom d