Chapter 64 The Dawn Breaks

• The sun creeps soft through the cracked blinds — gray-gold light catching on dust motes that drift lazy over the bed where Ellerei sleeps half-curled under Knox’s chest, her fist tangled in the hem of his shirt like she fought herself in her sleep and lost.
• He’s been awake a while — jaw tucked against her crown, breath warm where it ghosts the streak of white that spills wild over her cheek.
• One hand sprawled heavy over her hip, thumb tracing lazy circles over the soft stretch of skin above her waistband — a brand he’d carve sweeter if he could. A claim no ghost can claw out again.