{Elena’s pov}
The house had gone quiet again. That strange, heavy quiet that only came after midnight when even the guards outside lowered their voices and the walls seemed to hold their breath. I sat alone on the small couch by the fireplace, my legs curled under me and a thick blanket draped over my shoulders. The fire had burned low, just soft orange embers now.
I should have been asleep. My body felt tired, slow, but my mind refused to stop turning. The image of Dante kept flashing through my head. His sharp jaw. The scar under his eye. The way his gaze had locked on mine during the auction like he knew me. Not just as a woman standing on that stage but as something more. Something deeper.
I rubbed my arms slowly, trying to warm myself, but the chill that ran through me was not fro
