Earlier, as soon as Seraphine sent everyone out of the emergency ward, Kael's gaze settled on Jasmine, his eyes tracing the lines of her face, the stillness of her body, the terrible peace that had settled over her features. Pure grief and love warred inside him until every breath ached.
There weren't any casualties, so the environment was quiet, with no doctors or nurses loitering around, no footsteps echoing in the hallway, no voices cutting through the silence.
Just the two of them, alone in the sterile glow of the emergency ward, the weight of everything unsaid pressing down on him.
Jasmine's lifeless body in the ice ached Kael's heart, a dull, persistent throb that refused to fade. It was supposed to be a romantic night, candles and flowers and the words he had rehearsed a hundred times in his head. And yet, the Lycans had ruined it for him, had shattered everything with their cruelty and their greed, leaving him with nothing but this quiet, desperate vigil.
