Mara’s POV

Warm light pressed against my eyelids, soft and steady. For a long moment, I didn’t move. I didn’t even want to. The stillness felt safe, an illusion, maybe but I wanted to hold on to it.

When I finally opened my eyes, the room was quiet, the curtains drawn halfway to let in streaks of gold evening. Another end of the day trapped in his world.

My body ached in strange places, not from pain but from exhaustion that went deeper than sleep could fix. I turned on my side, clutching ...