Chapter 40

Julian woke to the sound of soft, rhythmic mumbling. Beside him, Chloe lay tangled in her sheets, her lips moving in a silent, incoherent dream-chatter. The room was bathed in the grey, pre-dawn light of Veridia, but Julian's mind was already sharp, heavy with the weight of the previous loop's final hours. The memory of the Carmichael residence—the smell of copper, the stillness of the air, and the glaring absence of Elena—burned in the back of his eyes. He didn't believe in coincidences...