Nikolai

Sleep was a battlefield I lost before the first shot.

The nightmares came in fragments—her face, her screams, the feel of her skin beneath claws that weren't quite human. I'd jerk awake, heart hammering, the bond in my chest pulsing with an ache that had no physical source. By the time the clock read three, I'd given up entirely.

I pulled on running clothes and slipped out into the darkness.

The citadel was quiet at this hour, the kind of quiet that settled into bones and reminded ...