MAILAH COULDN'T SLEEP.
Not really.
She dozed for minutes that stretched like hours, waking to the same weight pressing against her chest. Liora's words had lodged in her mind again, sharp and unavoidable.
When that restraint finally collapses—and it will—the bond won't crush you. It will devour you both.
Even as the villa slumbered, Mailah's thoughts roamed the corners of memory. Grayson—his face softened in ways he would never allow anyone to see, touched by a youth and innocence she knew had been stolen long ago.
By three in the morning, she gave up. Quietly, so as not to wake the others, she slipped out of bed. Her bare feet brushed against the cool marble of the corridor, her pulse thrumming with restless energy.
The kitchen lights were already on when she arrived.
