The child does not understand temptation.
But they understand absence.
⸻
It begins with a whimper.
Not loud.
Not frightened.
A soft, uncertain sound that slips from the heir’s chest while they sleep, fingers twitching as if reaching for something that is no longer where it should be.
Zane is awake instantly.
He does not move.
Does not breathe.
He feels it too.
Not pressure.
Not danger.
Distance.
⸻
Jason enters the chamber moments later, already pale.
“You felt it,” he says quietly.
Zane nods once.
“They’re not crying,” he says.
“They’re… searching.”
Jason swallows.
“The lattice shifted again,” he admits.
“Nothing broke. Nothing surged.”
A pause.
“But something withdrew.”
⸻
The heir stirs more fully now, small brow creasing as their breath grows uneven. Their tiny
