The night before the Council convened, Jasmine couldn't sleep. She stood again at the window where this had all nearly unraveled, one hand on her belly, feeling the twins settle into something calmer than they had been in weeks — as if even they understood that tomorrow mattered.

Xavier found her there, as he always seemed to now, and didn't speak at first. He simply stood beside her, matching her stillness, until the silence became its own kind of conversation.

"I used to think love was supposed to feel safe," Jasmine said eventually. "Like something solid you could stand on. Hardin taught me it wasn't. You taught me it still...