Chapter 141The night was a symphony of agony, and I was the captive audience.Every time I managed to drift into a shallow, grey sleep, a low, guttural grunt would vibrate through the mattress, dragging me back to the freezing reality of Murmansk. Yamelyan was a restless engine of pain beside me. We were sharing the same bed, a necessity of the cramped communal flat but the distance between us felt like a tectonic rift. Every time he shifted, his broken ribs clicking or his breath hitching in a sharp, wet hiss, I felt the phantom heat of his body.I lay there, staring at the ceiling, my mind a jagged loop of the previous day. No. Your real father would never hide from you. I had said it to protect Leo, but the lie felt like a layer of ice over my heart. When the first grey sliver of dawn bled through the grime-caked window, I didn't wait for the household to stir. I rolled out of bed with a quiet, lethal efficiency, my joints stiff from the cold. "Leo, Luna," I whispered, shaking
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