Chapter 57: The First Snow
Eira knelt on the floor, surrounded by the clothes and small things she'd been shoving into a worn-out suitcase.
Her hands shook as she folded the last sweater, trying to ignore the way her chest felt tight, heavy, like it was being crushed from the inside.
She'd already packed most of what was hers, but every item Callian had given her—a necklace, a dress, small tokens of affection she'd once held close—lay discarded on the floor.
She couldn't bear to take them, couldn't even stand to look at them.
"It's fine," she whispered in a trembling voice. "I don't need any of it. I don't need… him."
Her words broke off, trailing into silence as the apartment grew darker, shadows stretched across the walls, filling the empty spaces where his presence should have been.
The tears slipped down her cheeks before she could stop them.
She wiped at them furiously, frustrated with herself.
