LIORA'S POV;
The morning light streamed through the curtains, bright and unrelenting, dragging me out of a restless sleep. My head throbbed as if it bore the weight of last night's events, and my body felt unusually heavy. Today should have been a day of celebration, a moment to bask in the joy of my victory at the Eterna Atelier Fashion Competition. Yet, as I sat up in bed, the air around me felt suffocating, filled with an inexplicable sense of defeat.
I rubbed my temples, trying to piece together the fragmented memories from last night, but nothing coherent surfaced. Instead, flashes of Ronan kneeling on one knee, his hands cradling Sophie’s, flooded my mind. The image hit me like a punch to the gut, my heart constricting with an ache I couldn’t shake.
I pushed the memory aside, swung my legs off the bed, and tried to stand, but my knees wobbled beneath me. A wave of nausea swept through me, leaving me breathless and weak.