AMAYAI couldn’t sleep.No matter how many times I closed my eyes, the words bled back into my mind, the sharp, merciless ink of his father’s hand. No survivors. The phrase clung to me like smoke, filling my chest until I thought I might choke on it.Yet here I was. Alive. Breathing. Proof that the Grayhides’ massacre hadn’t been as complete as they believed. Proof that fate, or chance, or something darker, had spared me.And Lucian had known.I sat on the edge of my bed, the sheets twisted around me, my palms clammy. My body felt like a cage for the storm inside me, grief, rage, betrayal, and something I refused to name because it felt too much like longing.I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to hear him. But it was as though Lucian’s shadow had fastened itself to mine, dogging every step, every breath. His persistence was a weight pressing on me from all directions. And I hated him for it. I hated him because some part of me also wanted it.A faint knock rattled the door. I
Last Updated : 2025-10-04 Read more