Chapter 254

• Emilia’s POV
• The café was quieter than I expected for a weekday afternoon. A few scattered patrons sat hunched over laptops or nursing cups of coffee. I fiddled with the handle of my mug, the heat radiating through the ceramic doing very little to steady my nerves.
• Alonso wasn’t late—he never was—but the anticipation of seeing him again had me on edge. After the disastrous dinner, I wasn’t sure how this conversation would go. Part of me was still angry at him for the things he said about Alaric. The other part—the one that still saw him as my father—wanted to believe there was a way to bridge the gap between us.