Forbidden Bond: A Velthorn Tale — Chapter 26: False Accusations

← Chapter 25: Beneath the Festival Lights pt 2 | 📖 Series Index | Chapter 27: The Heat of Confrontation →

The first whisper of dawn crept through the small window of their room at the Axe and Fiddle, touching the worn floorboards with fingers of pale silver. Anora stirred in the quiet darkness, her consciousness surfacing gently from the depths of dreamless sleep. Her eyes fluttered open, instantly alert in the way of someone who had spent years surviving in the wilderness where waking slowly could mean not waking at all.

Beside her, Mikhail slumbered deeply, his breathing a steady rhythm punctuated by occasional soft snores. His face, relaxed in sleep, bore the marks of last night’s violence—bruises blooming in purple-blue constellations across his skin, his split lip slightly swollen. Even wounded, he radiated a sense of safety that Anora had never known before him.