UNKNOWN POV
The first bond snapped just after midnight.
Not Persefone’s.
That was the only reason I did not break something immediately.
For a moment, I only stood there with my hand wrapped around a glass of water, listening to the house breathe around me. Bloodclaw always made too much noise at night. Old wood settling. Pipes ticking behind the walls. Someone laughing too loudly two floors below, drunk on safety they had never earned. A door closing.
Normal sounds.
Harmless sounds.
Then the spell I had buried years ago inside Penelope Savage’s fate tore open like wet cloth.
The glass cracked in my hand.
Water ran over my fingers.
For one long second, I felt her.
Gold.
Rain.
Teeth in skin.
That miserable guard of hers on his knees inside the bond, loyal as a beaten dog and
