Chapter 176

NICO’S POV I didn’t know what hurt more: seeing Bella pale and weak in bed or the long-buried memories the images brought to the surface. Carlotta had been sick, and the nights spent nursing her, watching life slowly seep out of my mate till she was nothing but a shell of her former self, were the worst moments of my life. What nefarious grievance had I committed in my past life that made the goddess punish me so violently to repeat this fate? Bella moaned softly, snapping me out of my melancholy. She writhed on the bed, her eyebrows furrowed tightly. She was dreaming—probably of the awful ordeals she’d gone through. I hated that all I could do was watch from the outside. I wish I could get into her head and destroy all her demons. I wish I could join Andrea to find the bastards who did this to her and destroy them. But the thought of leaving Bella’s side was a physical, stabbing ache. I gripped her hand tightly. That was the only physical contact I allowed myself because I knew that a