The door of my chambers closed behind me, and I let myself fall.
The tears came before I reached the bed, streaming down my cheeks, choking my breath. I pressed my hands against my mouth, trying to stifle the sobs, but they tore from my chest anyway, raw and desperate. I had held them back for so long through the confession, through the silence, through the long days of waiting. But now, alone in the darkness, I could not hold them anymore.
I sank onto the edge of the bed, my body shaking, my hands clutching the furs. The fire had burned low, casting long shadows on the walls, and the room was cold, cold as the space where Kaelen's warmth should have been.
He had walked away.
