Chapter 235

“STOP IT!”

His voice tore the dark like a blade.

I was already half-awake—one foot in sleep, one in listening—and sat bolt upright before the echo died.

The room had the color of deep water. Curtains breathed. The coals in the hearth kept a faint red eye open.

For a heartbeat I didn’t move, because sometimes stillness is the only way to hear what isn’t sound.

The bond told me first.

Pain. Not the