Azura's POV
Genevieve stood entirely frozen at the side of the bed, her trembling hand pressed flat against her chest as if she were manually trying to hold her own heart inside her ribs.
Heavy, silent tears filled her bright blue eyes, spilling over her thick lashes and tracking wet paths down her pale cheeks.
Her shoulders shook with a sudden, violent sob that she desperately tried to swallow down.
For a long, agonizing moment, she did not take a single step or make a single sound.
She just stood there in the center of the quiet stone bedroom, staring down at me with a profound, aching intensity, as if she were looking directly at a ghost, someone precious she had loved and completely lost a lifetime ago.
Then, her stiff legs finally moved, and she walked slowly around the edge of the mattress.
