Patrick's POV
The drive back from Wildmane stretches endlessly ahead of me. My fingers clamp around the steering wheel until my knuckles turn bone white. Every mile that passes brings Melanie's voice back into my head, her words cutting deeper each time.
"Eternal life. Eternal guilt. Every lifetime ends the same way."
Helena.
My grip tightens until I think the wheel might crack. I cannot tell her what I learned. Not now. Not when she can barely hold herself together. Not when she is drowning and fighting just to take her next breath.
The apartment door creaks open under my hand, and the smell slams into me like a physical blow. Stale air mixed with dirty laundry and something else, something that smells like giving up. The curtains block out every trace of sunlight. Asher's boots sit abandoned by the entrance, but he does not call out when I walk in.
