Aria wasn't surprised to wake up alone. She had stopped expecting Zyren to remain after the nights he took her. If anything, she would have been shocked to find him beside her. The empty space on the bed was familiar now, cold and hollow like the air before dawn.
She moved her legs slowly and felt the unpleasant reminder of what had happened hours before—the warm slickness between her thighs that no washing could erase. Her body didn't recoil, not anymore. That was the part that frightened her most.
Her mind raged and her stomach churned, but her skin and muscles no longer shivered at his touch. They had grown used to it. She wondered if that was the first sign of breaking.
