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★★★
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:
DARK DAYS AHEAD
★★★
Aurora sat at the edge of the table, her hands wrapped tightly around her mug of cold tea. The warmth seeped into her fingers, but it did nothing to quell the cold creeping down her spine. Her body felt as though it were dragging through the morning, heavy with exhaustion, the kind that no amount of sleep could heal. The weight of the night still clung to her, its aftershocks lingering beneath her skin like a low hum.
The Hall was unusually dim that morning, the usual golden glow of the enchanted ceiling absent, swallowed by dark clouds that hovered low over the castle. The sky was bruised, grey and unyielding. Outside the windows, the rain tapped a dull, relentless rhythm against the panes, as if the world itself were trying to drown out the noise of her thoughts. Her grey eyes continued to look outside, watching the small splatters of rain begin to fall on the window.
Aurora blinked hard, struggling to focus. Her head felt foggy, and everything around her seemed muffled, as though the walls of the Hall had shifted further away. The voices of the citizens of Merlen talking, laughing, eating, were distorted, like whispers filtered through thick cotton. The sounds didn't make it to her ears as they should, all the words mixing into one hollow, unintelligible murmur.
Next to her, Remus and Damien were attempting to engage in conversation. Their voices were more like distant echoes than anything coherent. She couldn't even make out their words, and, even if she could, she knew she wouldn't be able to respond.
Damien's awkward chuckle reached her just as a sharp, quiet thud echoed in her chest—her heartbeat, low and erratic, thumping harder as the anxiety from the night before seemed to rise in her throat. She swallowed hard, but the effort felt like it took more energy than she had. Her chest felt tight, her ribs straining under the pressure of invisible hands. It had only been hours since she had come back from the house in Italy with Theo.
"You okay?" James questioned, ruffling her hair as he walked by and sat down.
"Aurora?" Remus's voice sliced through the fog, startling her. It wasn't clear if he had spoken to her or Damien, but the words were full of a gentle concern she didn't want to acknowledge.
Aurora didn't answer for a moment. She couldn't. The words wouldn't come. Instead, she kept her eyes trained on the polished surface of the table, "Yeah, I'm just tired. I'm going to see my mum."
