Chapter 74 Break Or Bleed

• The knife hums when it kisses skin — a soft scrape, the edge tracing the old puckered brand Donatello left like a crown she never asked for.
• Ellerei drags her breath in slow — nose burning, eyes locked on the single bulb that sways just enough to catch Talia’s grin every time she shifts the blade.
• “Look at you,” Talia croons — voice dipped honey and venom where her knee pins Ellerei’s thigh to cold concrete. “All those sharp edges. All that pretty ruin. And you really thought he’d pick you.”