Daughter of No Worlds (The War of Lost Hearts, #1)

by Carissa Broadbent

I made some terrible joke and, in response, Max winced and shook his head. “Awful. Just awful.” “You say this now,” I retorted, twisting air between my hands. “But what will you ever do when I’m gone?” I meant it as a preening joke. But as soon as the words left my mouth, they landed like a thrown brick, striking us both with a blunt, unforgiving impact. Max’s grin had stilled and wilted. One wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. We stared at each other in startled silence, something palpable and indescribable thickening in the inches between us as realization careened through us both. We had carved out these small, intimate spaces for each other in our lives, and by some miracle of human denial, neither of us had thought about what that would inevitably mean. Now, for the first time, I realized the breadth of the gaping absence we would leave in each other. That, at least, he would leave in me.

they mean so much to one another