CHAPTER FIVE
Sunlight spilled through the curtains, casting pale gold across the floor. The house was too quiet, every creak sharper, every silence heavier.
Amara stood by her bedroom window, staring at the backyard without seeing it. Her fingers grazed her lips, where Jace’s kiss still burned, vivid and relentless. Last night replayed in her head — his hands, his breath, the way her heart had raced despite every reason it shouldn’t. Guilt churned in her stomach, but so did something else, something that made her chest ache.
Downstairs, her mother’s laugh cut through the stillness, followed by her stepfather’s low voice. They sounded normal, untouched by what she’d done. What *they’d* done.
She forced herself to move. She pulled on a sweater, brushed her hair, and avoided the mirror. H
