Bonus chapter
Livia The mornings are quiet here. Not the heavy, watchful quiet of stone corridors, but the kind that breathes—wind moving through tall grass, distant birds calling to one another, the soft creak of wood warming beneath the sun. I wake before him most days. Kael sleeps like a man who no longer expects violence to arrive with dawn. On his back, one arm flung carelessly across the space where I lie, as if even in sleep he knows where I belong. The scars are still there, mapped across his skin like history written by cruel hands—but they no longer define him. They are just stories now. I slip from the bed quietly, pulling on a simple dress, my bare feet touching cool stone. Yes—stone. We built the house sturdier than I imagined, though small, humble, unremarkable to anyone who does not
Great novels start here
- Writer
