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Like she belonged here now. Like this was her vigil too.

Aimee hesitated. She didn’t want to stay. But… family was family. And leaving would look bad.

With a quiet sigh, she pulled out a chair at the card table near the window and settled in.

She glanced at the door. There was no sound from beyond it. What was her brother doing back there? What if she just… poked her head inside?

One look at Sarina immediately disqualified that idea. She didn’t want to get singed.

Aimee sat back, drumming her fingers against the table.

It wasn’t Cori. She’d had time to think on it now, and clearly, she’d been mistaken. Blinded by hope, by pain, by the exhaustion of so many years of searching. Sure, they looked similar, but that’s where the resemblance ended.

Cori had been laughter and sunlight, gentleness and warmth.

Talya barged into every room, weapon drawn, and expected the world to fall in line.

Cori never would’ve accepted the Time Shard’s call. Only Talya had that kind of audacity.

Cori had loved her. She’d loved everyone, unconditionally. Talya… Talya chose who got her softness. At least, that’s what Aimee assumed. She’d never been on the receiving end, so she couldn’t say for sure if it even existed.

Talya’s door opened. Everyone in the room tensed. Kato woke with a snort, and Skylen was instantly upright.

But it was only one of the maids. In her arms, she carried a bundle of towels soaked with blood. The smell of it wafted from the room behind her.

There it was again—that flicker of something uncomfortably close to worry. Aimee tried to get a peek inside the room, but the door slipped shut.

She stared at it, waiting for a cry of pain, a gasp for air, anything.

Nothing came.

Her gaze flicked to Skylen. He leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees, face in his hands.

The picture of devotion.

Something twisted in Aimee’s chest. He was never going to love her. She’d accepted it. But still… just once, she wanted to know what it felt like to be chosen that completely.

Bored of the silence, she pulled a deck of cards from her skirt pocket, shuffling them idly. Sunlight slanted over the polished wood. She tapped the deck against the table once, aligning the edges before dealing the first row.

A shadow moved into her light.

Aimee didn’t look up from her game. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” said a male voice.

Aimee sighed and raised her eyes to give the red-haired idiot standing before her the attention he so obviously wanted.

“What’s wrong, Lady Bryer?” Kato smirked. “You usually look happier to see me.”

“Usually, you’re drunker,” she said coolly. “It makes it easier to take all your coin.”

“Mind if I join?”

She placed another card down. It made a satisfying, gentle snap as it settled on the wood. “It’s calledSolitairefor a reason.”

“Yes, but as you might’ve noticed, nobody else in the room is much in the mood for talking. And you’re always such a ray of sunshine…”

Aimee arched a brow.