Chapter 40
Dae-Hyun Steam turned lanternlight to a soft blur, the world narrowed to the rise and fall of her breath and the warm press of her palms. Eun-Ae’s fingers traced slow paths across my shoulders, working the last stubborn knots loose until I could breathe without the ache of armor still haunting my bones. When I turned to face her, she didn’t pull back; she only lifted her chin, ears tilting forward as if to catch the smallest tremor in me. “Stay,” I whispered, though she was already there. She smiled like a promise. Tails unfurled behind her—white and silver and the palest gold—lifting and settling with the gentleness of tidewater. One brushed my wrist, then curled to my palm until my fingers closed around it without thinking. The fur was impossibly soft; the living thrum beneath it stea
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