Chapter Thirteen

Harry dreams of Lara in an intensely erotic scene, with a nameless partygoer as a willing conduit of Lara’s Hunger. The dream highlights Harry’s lingering attraction and the dangerous allure of Lara’s power and intimacy.

He wakes in his basement chambers on Demonreach, hungover, sweaty, and aching, with an abandoned Monopoly game and empty Scotch as evidence of solitary, destructive coping. A manifestation of his other self appears, cleaner and colder, needling Harry about his pain and self-loathing, and suggesting he consider life with Lara more honestly.

The double presses on Harry’s grief over Murphy and points out a troubling fact: if Harry truly loved and was loved in return as before, Lara’s touch should burn—but it doesn’t. The implication rattles Harry, who reacts with fury and hurls a glass at the apparition, which shatters against the door.

Bear kicks in the door at the crash, knife in hand, and finds Harry alone, reeling. When nausea hits, Bear steadies him and gets him to the bathroom in time. Harry is overcome by weakness and despair, mired in an endless-feeling present of loss.

With quiet competence, Bear cleans him up, gives him water and antacid, and settles him in bed. She sings an ancient, soothing song, patient and steady, anchoring him through the night. Under her watch, Harry finally sleeps until dawn for the first time since Murphy’s death, marking a fragile but vital step toward healing.