Chapter 83

• Cesmae’s POV
• Raizel’s words from earlier still linger in the air, heavy and loaded with unspoken emotions. I sit by his bedside, feeling the weight of everything that’s passed between us. My heart aches in ways I can’t quite describe, but I force myself to say something, anything, to cut through the silence that’s quickly becoming unbearable.
• “You’d make a good brother-in-law,” I blurt out, my voice suddenly awkward. The words come from nowhere, and the moment they leave my lips, I regret them instantly. Why did I say that? It feels like a betrayal somehow, even if I didn’t mean it that way.