HARPER'S POV
Pain is a slow crawl. It drags itself through my bones, settles into my skin, and curls around my spine like a cold snake refusing to let go. I can feel the sharp tug of stitches, the dull burn of a fever trying to break loose, and under all of it, the thudding panic that someone saw too much.
That Vera knew too much.
I drift in and out of sleep, but it's not restful. It's broken, like shattered glass. Bits of nightmares, pieces of memories, flashes of Vera's blade. Her voice calls me Harper.
Not Hunter.
Harper.
She knows. She knew the second she walked in. She knew and still smiled like a snake sliding across silk. I can't stop hearing it. The way she hissed my name like it was a curse.
The way… the way she…
I wake up sweating, my shirt clinging to m
