#Chapter 63: Cruelty

Ella The morning light streaming through the bedroom windows was too bright, and my head was pounding worse than any hangover. I blinked slowly, trying to remember what had happened. Slowly, far too slowly, it all came back to me. The charity auction, Sophia destroying Lilith’s locket, the bracelet Alexander had given me, returning home… And then the moment that everything had gone black. I tried to sit up, wincing as my body protested. Every muscle ached, and there was a dull throb behind my eyes that made me want to crawl back under the covers and sleep for another week. “You’re awake.” I turned toward the voice and found Gabriel sitting in the chair beside the bed, his arms crossed and that familiar disapproving expression on his face. Not exactly the person I’d been hoping to see when I first woke up. “Where’s Alexander?” I asked, my voice coming out as a croak. I reached up to touch the bandage on the side of my head where I had hit the ti