ElaraMorning finds me before the sun does.I wake not gently, but like air flooding back into lungs that forgot how to work. One sharp inhale, my spine arching off the mattress, my fingers clutching at the sheets.His voice is gone.Thank the Goddess.But the echo remains — a vibration in my sternum, faint but undeniable, like someone plucked a string inside my chest and walked away before the sound faded.My father.What’s left of him.The shadow the witch carved him into.I blink the sleep from my eyes, breathing slowly through the fading tremor. The room is still dim, early dawn light barely brushing the window. Kael’s scent wraps around me — pine and storm, safety and danger, everything that should not feel like home but does.I expected him to be gone.I shouldn’t have.He sits in the chair beside my bed, head tipped back, eyes closed, arms crossed over his chest. His posture is rigid even in sleep, like his body refuses to forget vigilance.A knife rests on his thigh.Of course
Last Updated : 2025-12-09 Read more