(Elara's POV)
When I finally woke, the penthouse was wrapped in the soft quiet of late morning, the kind that made everything feel slower, gentler, suspended in a calm I didn't quite remember falling asleep into. My body felt light beneath the warm throw blanket, my mind hazy but comforted. The faint scent of something warm lingered in the air—Asher's cologne, subtle and grounding, mixed with the aroma of freshly prepared food. Someone had been here. Someone had watched over me.
And I already knew who.
I pushed myself upright, blinking away the blur of dreams, and noticed the plate on the table. A small meal, carefully arranged, just like the breakfast I had found earlier that morning. The note he had left was still beside it—creased now, probably because I had clutched it without reali
