CHAPTER 76 The Fire Beneath

　　Amelia's POV

　　Julian was gone.

　　The words twisted in my mind, sharp and unforgiving, a wound that refused to close.

　　I sat frozen in my chair, my hands clenched so tightly on the armrests that my nails bit into the polished wood. My entire body was rigid, my breath shallow. It felt like the ground beneath me had shifted, like I was standing at the edge of a cliff, staring into a chasm I had never expected to face.

　　Julian had left. And he had left without telling me.

　　The realization was as bitter as it was humiliating. I had waited. Days had passed, long, agonizing days where I had told myself he was just busy, that he would come to me and we'd sort things out when the time was right. That he would explain his distance, his coldness.

　　But this morning, all those hopes had crumbled.

　　I had been walking down the corridor toward the dining hall when I overheard two warriors talking in hushed voices.

　　"Alpha Julian left last night."