Alaric's POV
I stood motionless, watching Lyra storm into the locker room, her anger pulsing with each determined stride. The second she vanished from sight, my mask of control shattered completely. My shoulders slumped beneath an unbearable burden, my back bowing in surrender. I dragged both hands down my face, releasing a weighted breath, then lifted my gaze toward the ceiling as though divine intervention might provide answers.
What twisted karma have I accumulated to warrant this agony?
The universe offered only cruel silence, yet somewhere in my guilty conscience, a voice whispered back: You know precisely which transgressions led you here.
My head dropped forward in defeat. The question had been futile anyway. I knew my punishment intimately.
