Chapter 103 Blood In The Quiet

• The safehouse is too still.
• Not quiet like peace. Quiet like breath held. Like the hush before a bullet breaks skin.
• Ellerei stands by the window, arms folded, shoulder pressed to the cool pane of glass. Outside, the woods murmur softly, wind through trees hiding more than it shows. They’re deep enough in the middle of nowhere that signal cuts out unless you’re lucky—but not so far off-grid that they can breathe easy.