The night breathed differently in Blackfang’s woods. It didn’t exhale; it growled.
Mist curled low around the roots, wrapping trees in a hush of threat. The moon hung swollen and voyeuristic above the treetops, casting silver onto moss and broken stone……like a god that never looked away.
Jasmine walked barefoot.
Not like a girl wandering lost.
Not like a woman in need of saving.
But like something sacred and sovereign……a dark prayer wearing skin.
The House of Solace was long behind her, a velvet memory soaked in perfume and rules. Here, there were no locked rooms. No soft warnings. Just the scrape of her heel against bark and the cold kiss of night on her thighs.
The hem of her thin nightdress clung wet to her skin. It had rained earlier……and the damp fabric caressed her hips with e
