Sophia's POV
The next few days blurred together in the best possible way.
I stayed at Alistane's estate, buried in the study, sketching designs until my fingers cramped. Every morning I made his breakfast—scrambled eggs, toast, black coffee, nothing fancy—and every morning he sat across from me eating like it was a five-star meal. Then he'd leave, and I wouldn't see him again until the next day.
'Maybe this arrangement isn't so bad after all.'
But on the fourth day, I hit a wall.
The design was seventy percent done. The composition was there, the concept was solid, but something was missing—a structural technique I'd experimented with back in college.
I'd documented it in a portfolio that I no longer had. Because of course I didn't. I'd left everything behind when I walked out of De
