Page 80 of Emylia

What if we tried, and we broke—and I didn’t just lose the man I loved… I lost mybest friendtoo?

The thought sank its teeth into me, sharp and merciless. Because maybe we were already breaking. And maybe, justmaybe, they’d be no putting us back together.

I didn’t know how to exist in a world where he wasn’t mine and worse, one where hewas…but only as the boy who used to be everything. The echo of something we had lost, a shadow of what we could’ve been.

I needed to protect us.

Because otherwise I would lose him.

And that wasn’t even a possibility.

ChapterEighteen

Taking my uncle’s advice, I lay down in the four-poster bed and tried to get some sleep. But it was impossible. I continued to toss and turn, the residual adrenaline still coursing through my veins.

And honestly, the fight with Sebastian hadn’t helped; I felt like I could go for a five-mile run. Or kick someone’s arse.

Or both.

Giving up on sleep, I began to pace. The silence after all the commotion kicked my brain into overdrive. And for some reason, all I could think about was the absence of my father.

It was my first Goddess festival without him and it had been chaos. Yet, even with the adrenaline-inducing antics of the night, it felt so hollow without him. Everything would have gone differently today if he’d been there.

Screw this.

Opening the window, I stuck my head out, letting the cold air blast my face. A moment of weakness consumed me, tears welling in my eyes as I let the loss of him manifest.

“Escaping again, are we?”

I jerked up at the sound.

Pain radiated through me as my head hit the top of the window frame. I lost my balance as I tried to spin around.

As fast as lightning, Maalikai reached forward, stopping my body from hitting the ground with infuriating ease. Piercing blue eyes scorched mine with a scolding intensity. Surprise flickered through me, tingling like a lightning strike.

Maalikai shouldn’t be here. Not holding me to his insanely firm chest. My hands tightening around his shoulders, my body flush against him. Feeling every inch of him through my thin nightshirt.

Ten seconds in his arms, and it was like my pain was insubstantial—like it never existed.

How was that even possible?

And yet, the absence of the pain was almost more excruciating. It felt like a betrayal to feel okay when my father no longer remained on this earth.

Overcome with emotion, a sob escaped me, and I covered my face with my hands, trying to shield my weakness from Maalikai’s gaze.

He squeezed me against him. “Are you okay?”

A meager nod was all I could manage, tears blurring my vision before I roughly wiped them away, trying to hide my lapse of composure.

“I’m sorry.” The weight of Maalikai’s words sunk into my soul, coating it so thickly that it felt suffocated.

I struggled to get the words out, afraid of his response. “Why areyousorry?”

A moment passed between us, his eyes searching mine like he could somehow grasp the weight of my torment.

“About your father’s death.”

Four little words and I was undone. They made everything so final.

---