Batista's POV
I thought I had already tasted every shade of pain a man could endure.
After losing my family, I truly believed there was nothing left in this world that could wound me so deeply again. I walked through life with that brokenness inside me, certain that no loss, no betrayal, no cruelty could ever compare to that first devastation.
But I was wrong.
When Rain slipped away from me, when her eyes closed and her hand grew cold in mine, I realized I had only been standing on the edge of pain before. Now I had fallen into the pit of it.
Yes, I had always loved the Rain, but I never knew that I loved her more than life itself. I never realized that she had become the very air I breathed. And losing her felt like someone reached into my chest, ripped out my heart, and shattered it into pieces that could never be put back together.
It was unbearable—so miserable, so hopeless—that I thought I would collapse under the weight of it.
And then… she spoke.
The witch.
