Three full days passed without a single pulse from the soft spot and the garden finally began to feel like home again instead of a watch post.
I stood at the kitchen window watching Mira and Thorne walk the stone circle with the girls. No one carried tension in their shoulders. Nova was laughing. Elara was placing a new flower inside the stones. Kai sat on the bench that used to be the soft spot’s favorite target, simply resting.
Cassian came up behind me and rested his hands on my waist. “It has been quiet long enough that I almost trust it.”
I leaned back against him. “Almost. I still check every morning. But the fear is not sitting on my chest the way it used to.”
He kissed the side of my head. “Mira wants to talk after the girls go down tonight. She and Thorne have been thinking ab
