ARIA'S POV
Aria spent the next three days in the art studio whenever she had free time. It became her refuge....the one place where she could let her guard down, where she could process everything through color and line and form.
She painted the greenhouse obsessively. Over and over. Different angles. Different lighting. Different emotions.
Always the Vitalis Radix plants at the center. Always that sense of desperate longing.
Damien would visit her sometimes, sitting quietly in the corner, just watching her work. Never interrupting. Never demanding conversation. Just being present.
It was intimate in a way that had nothing to do with sex. Like he was seeing the deepest, most vulnerable parts of her soul and accepting them without judgment.
Which made the lies feel even heavier.
On the fourth day, she was working on a new canvas....something different this time. Not the greenhouse. Something that had been haunting her dreams.
