Chapter 166

Aisha POV The first thing I noticed was the cold. Not sharp, not biting, but the kind of chill that settled when something warm was suddenly gone. My hand shifted against the ground, brushing rough fabric, Simon’s jacket but not him. My eyes flew open, heart thudding. The clearing was quiet, the trees whispering in the night breeze. The moon cast silver light over the empty space where he had been. He was gone. For a moment, panic rose, raw and unfiltered. It pressed tight against my chest, clawed at my throat. After everything, after the fragile way I had let myself fall into him tonight, the thought of waking to find him vanished carved open an old wound I thought I had buried. But no. I forced myself to breathe, slow and steady. Simon wasn’t my father. He wasn’t anyone who had left me bleeding in the dust of their choices. Still, the fear lingered like a shadow, sharp and unwelcome. I sat up, pulling the jacket tighter around me, inhaling his scent clinging to the fabric, pine, stor