Chapter 1
Leo
She was in the garden again.
I could see her through the window—curled on the stone bench, half-lost in the moonlight.
Elle wasn’t sleeping. When she did, I knew the nightmares came. I could hear her screams and cries, but every time I tried to help her, she pulled away. She wouldn’t talk about them. She wouldn’t talk about anything, really.
Instead, she escaped. She hid. She slipped into the courtyard like a ghost, hiding in the jasmine and night-blooming roses.
It had been like this for days.
She was wasting away. Her cheeks were hollow, her eyes rimmed in grey. The kind of grey that didn’t just come from lack of sleep—it came from something deeper. Something broken.
She hadn’t said more than three words since we arrived here at Shadowmere.
And I was starting to worry.
“Maybe I should try to talk to her again,” I said aloud, not really expecting an answer.
Phoenix, stretched out on the bed behind me, shifted with a wince. He was still healing, slower than he liked to admit.
“And say what, exactly?” he asked, voice flat. “That it’s okay she’s breaking? She lost her best friend and Thorne on the same night. There is nothing we can say that can fix that.”
He looked away, rubbing the star mark on his wrist.
Thorne. That stupid, stubborn, self-sacrificing bastard.
We couldn’t feel him anymore.
Thorne was gone.
And, gods, it hurt.
Not like a cut. Not like something you could stitch up or set right.
It was the kind of hurt that sat deep in your ribs. Quiet. Heavy. Permanent.
Through the window, Elira still hadn’t moved. A shadow shifted in the courtyard behind her. Slade.
He stood silent, half-hidden in the dark, but watching her like his life depended on it. He’d made himself her personal guard the moment we stepped into this place—and he took the role like a vow.
She didn’t acknowledge him. But she didn’t push him away, either.
That had to count for something. Right?
“Syrena said she’s been trying to get Elle to come to dinner for days,” I said quietly. “She asked if I could help.”
Phoenix shook his head. “She’s trying too hard.”
“Can you blame her?” I asked, my voice softening. “This is the daughter she thought was dead.”
“I suppose not,” Phoenix said, pulling himself upright with a grimace. “But… I don’t know. A forced family vibe isn’t what she needs right now.”
I caught the flicker of pain in his eyes.
“Your back still giving you trouble?”
