EMMA
The howl fades, but its echo lingers inside my chest like a bruise.
I don’t move.
Neither does Damien.
For a moment, we just stand there in the snow-lit darkness, the forest breathing around us, the estate far enough away that its lights feel unreal—like a memory I could still run back to if I chose to.
Damien breaks the silence first.
“You felt that, didn’t you?” he says quietly.
My fingers go numb inside my gloves. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He smiles again—but this time, it doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s the smile he wore in arguments near the end. The one that meant he thought he was winning.
“Oh, come on, Emma,” he says. “Don’t insult me. Or yourself.”
He circles me slowly, boots crunching softly against the snow. I track him with my eyes, refusing to turn
