Modric’s POV
The girl who loved you is gone, Modric.
You made sure of that.
Mary Ann’s words followed me out of the Luna Wing.
They followed me down the corridor, into my study, and through every meeting I attended that day. I heard them beneath the voices of the elders discussing border patrols. I heard them while Marek explained that the copied household seal could have come from an old document. I heard them while Kylian reviewed reports from Hollowbrook.
No matter where I looked, I saw Mary Ann standing beneath the empty space where our wedding portrait had once hung.
I saw the tears she refused to let fall.
I had always known she disliked remembering the academy. I understood that I had embarrassed her and that some of my words had been cruel. But I had treated those years like
