Two Years Prior
If there was one thing Celia had learned over the last year, it was that life continued, no matter how deeply it hurt. You could suffer the worst kind of loss and the world would still spin. The sun would rise, the sun would set, and the chaos around you would never stop to catch its breath.
Lenore had died three weeks ago, and Celia could barely think through the thick fog of grief. Losing her mother so soon after Lucas’s abandonment felt like someone kept twisting a knife lodged in her chest.
She barely remembered to eat. Getting out of bed felt like a chore. Showering was exhausting. If it hadn’t been for Harold, she might have stayed in bed forever and let the world forget her.
But her father was grieving, too. His fated mate had died, and he was drifting through th
