Chapter : The Cost of Peace

For the first time in weeks, the house was still.

No whispers in the walls.

No red blinking lights or flickering signals.

Just wind outside the windows, brushing over the tall grass like a mother’s hand over a sleeping child.

Leo slept deeply, tangled in his sheets, one arm curled under his cheek. I sat beside his bed and watched his chest rise and fall with each breath, something settling in me that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Relief.

But peace, I was learning, was always temporary.

Especially in our world.

Lucien found me in the hallway, his eyes shadowed but soft....