a P

luxury. I had hurried home, a small, carefully wrapped gift clutched in my frozen hands, my heart full of hope. I pressed m

get's high-pitched giggle, spilled from the background. He sounded dista

fore the line went dead. The dial tone bu

swallowed the last vestiges of daylight, leaving me in darkness. My fingers were

ctically leaped out, his breath pluming in white clouds. His eyes, sharp a

between his, then pulled them against his chest, warming them, givin

sten to this." He tilted my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. His face, framed by the pale glow of the streetlamp, was b

rom all of this, Elia. Somewhere far away, where no one can hurt you, where there

The song swelled through the tiny earbud, a folk melody about enduring love. No matt

nd. My heart, frozen and guarded for so lon

et in his arms, his eyes burning with accusati

was a gap