[Elijah]
I woke to darkness, my eyes adjusting slowly with a squint. The rough texture of the bed beneath me was so familiar that I didn't need my vision to tell that this was my mother's house.
Before I could fully sink into the sluggish awakening of my mind, I heard muffled voices through the wall.
"You'd better not argue with Milord if you intend to keep your neck," Michael growled, his tone sharper than I'd ever heard it. Normally, he didn't bother raising his voice for anyone—not even me. Confrontation was too much effort for someone like him. But now? Now, he sounded like one of my mother’s exes.
"I—I know that!" My mother snapped back, her voice trembling but defiant. "But how can I just hand over the child I've raised for twenty years and as a slave?!"
Those words completely s
