CHAPTER 21 — SHADOWS THAT KNOW HER NAME
The mansion felt colder the next morning.
Not physically — the temperature was the same — but in the atmosphere. In the way silence now settled like frost on the walls. In the way every footstep echoed with suspicion. In the way Mara couldn't shake the feeling that unseen eyes followed her every movement.
She didn't sleep much. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the crimson-stained white rose. Every time she drifted, she heard the whisper from the note:
You're getting too comfortable.
By the time she sat up in bed, pale morning light slipping through the curtains, she felt drained. Exhausted. Emotionally bruised.
The door opened softly.
"Mara?"
Damian's voice.
She looked up to see him standing in the doorway, still in the same black shirt he wore last night. He hadn't slept. Not even a minute. His hair was slightly messy, his jaw shadowed with stubble — signs he never allowed anyone to see.
But to her, he didn't look careless.
