Chapter 326

AURELIA’S POV The corridors felt longer than usual. Every step echoed — the sound of my heels on polished stone, sharp and lonely. The air carried the faint scent of cedar and smoke, his scent, and it clung to me like a curse I couldn’t wash away. I didn’t want to admit it, but part of me still trembled — not from fear, but from something far more dangerous. A pull. A tether that refused to snap even after every lie, every wound. I hated him for it. And maybe, I hated myself more for still wanting to believe that beneath all that control, there was still the man who had shielded me when the world turned cruel. But trust? No. Not yet. Maybe not ever. When I finally reached my room, I shut the door softly — not to block the noise outside, but to block him. My reflection in the mirror stared back at me, pale and sharp-eyed, the face of someone who’d lost too many pieces of herself trying to survive other people’s wars. “Do you think I deserve your trust now?” His voice echoed in my mind a