I lie awake, staring into the thick darkness, unable to shake off the nagging sense that everything around me is on the verge of unraveling. The bed is too large, too soft, as if trying to swallow me whole. My breath comes in shallow bursts, my heart fluttering in its cage of bone. No matter how many times I roll over, I can’t get comfortable.
My doubts claw at my skull with icy fingers, digging in deeper each time I recall the details of the contract, the strange note, or the way I can still feel Damien’s eyes on me whenever I close mine. Was it all some f****d-up mistake? The idea hammers away at me, echoing through every chamber of my restless mind.
Images dance in my thoughts, visions of lurid candlelit gatherings, of Raven’s wariness, Vex’s keen interest, and Damien’s silent, comman
