LOGINI straightened up. My heart was pounding. I looked around the room and for a single, disorienting moment, I had no idea where I was. The black stone walls, the red sky beyond the window, the dead air of this place—none of it felt right. None of it felt like mine. I felt like a man who had woken up m
Andrei’s POVThe collar of my shirt was pissing me off.I had fastened it twice already and it still insisted on sitting crooked, pulling too tight on the left side. I undid it a third time and redid it, slower, watching my hands in the mirror rather than my own face. My reflection had been botherin
Natalia’s POVHe didn’t hesitate.The moment I swung the rod toward him, his hand shot out and closed around my wrist like a vise. My arm wrenched sideways, and I felt the bones grind together under his grip, and the rod fell. It clattered somewhere on the stone floor, rolling away into the darkness
Andrei’s POVThe room was warm. The bed was soft and plush, the pillows made of feathers and velvet. Everything smelled familiar, the kind of scent that you recognize from a past life but can never put a finger on its source.Home.The woman was laying next to me, just as she always did. Amber hair
But I would do it, because the alternative was my children going through whatever came next, and that was not something I was willing to consider.I wasn’t certain yet. That was the only reason I was still trying so hard now. Because there was still a small part of me that thought that there must be
Natalia’s POVThey came for me after what felt like a full day. I say felt like because it really could have been any amount of time, or none at all. But someone did bring me some slop to eat at some point, so that had to have meant that at least a full cycle had passed.I was on my feet before the
Natalia & AndreiNatalia“Whose body was burned during your funeral all those years ago? I deserve to know.”I sat back on my heels and stared at Andrei. The question wasn’t entirely unexpected—he was bound to ask eventually—but the timing caught me off guard. We had just buried a baby deer that An
Instead of answering him, I turned toward the remaining Ashmoor warrior. “May I borrow your jacket?”“Of course, Luna.” The warrior immediately shrugged off his jacket and held it out to me. I smiled warmly and took it from him, slipping it on.When I turned back toward Andrei, I made a show of snug
I smiled and leaned into Damon. “All better,” I said, even as my heart pounded.Later that night, after the twins were asleep and the house was quiet, I found Damon sitting in the parlor in front of the crackling fireplace.Music was playing softly on the record player, and he had his head tilted ba
AndreiI watched Natalia walk away from me with a surge of anger coursing through me.She’d been so cold. So dismissive. She wouldn’t even tell me about the nature of her abortion.My hands clenched into fists so tight my nails dug into my palms. How dare she? How fucking dare she act like I wasn’t







