Chapter 79: Pining

Damn it, he wanted Sorin. He wanted to know if all the hope and frustration was leading to reconciliation or if he would have to figure out how to move on. Eventually, exhaustion got the better of him.

He jerked awake at the sound of the morning bells ringing. Sitting up and shoving back the messy tangle of his hair, he remembered where he was and looked around anxiously. Sorin wasn't there. Koray swallowed the hurt that rose up, cold and sharp. His face burned with humiliation when he realized he had waited all night—fallen asleep waiting—for a man who had never come.

Shoving the blankets away, Koray slid out of bed and looked around dully, cataloguing all the items that would need to be removed and taken to his own room. He wondered if there was still a room to spare, or if he would have to take a room in the cathedral.