#Chapter 148 – Nothing Left

Lila The sun was out again. I could tell by the thin slant of light crawling across the floor, catching the edges of my bedframe and turning the dust motes into slow-moving stars. The window had been allowed to be open just a crack, and the air drifting in smelled like damp stone and distant flowers. The kind of scent that should’ve reminded me of spring. Of breath. Of life. It reminded me how I couldn’t walk in the gardens. Couldn’t leave my room. Wouldn’t see my mother again. I hadn’t moved from my bed since morning. Maybe longer. The same dress clung to me, wrinkled and damp beneath the arms. My hair was unbrushed. My lips dry. My thoughts, what few remained, floated somewhere far above my body. There was a knock. A soft one. Then the door opened. I didn’t turn my head, but I knew it was Ronan by the quiet way he moved. The careful gait. He didn’t try to fill the silence this time. Just walked in and set something down on the bedside table. The smell of broth f