Love becomes leverage the moment it learns how to wait.
⸻
The waiting is the worst part.
No new whispers.
No narrowed paths.
No sudden relief or creeping fear.
Just… normal.
Jason hates it immediately.
“This isn’t retreat,” he mutters, eyes locked on the lattice. “It’s calibration.”
Zane doesn’t answer. He sits on the stone steps outside the sanctum, the heir warm and heavy against his chest, watching the sky brighten into a morning that looks undeservedly peaceful.
“They’re learning our breathing patterns,” he says quietly. “Counting the seconds between choices.”
The heir shifts, fingers curling into Zane’s shirt, grounding him.
Zane exhales slowly.
They won’t rush this.
They’ll wait until love is tired.
⸻
The first lever is not the child.
It is Zane.
The message comes a
