I should have known.
The silence after betrayal is never quiet. It hums low, constant, like static beneath the skin. Ever since I walked away from the safehouse, from Valen’s kiss, from the dizzying heat of a night I shouldn’t have wanted… the world hasn’t been the same. The way people glance at me. The whispers I catch in half-closed rooms. Even the way my name appears on mail. Something isn’t right.
But nothing,absolutely nothing prepared me for the small beige envelope that arrived that morning.
No return address.
No postage.
Just my name, Elara Monroe, scrawled in handwriting that still made my stomach twist.
It was Maya’s.
My fingers hesitated as I held it, torn between fury and something far worse: curiosity. I should’ve thrown it into the fireplace. Let it burn the way our fr
