Night settled quietly, but it wasn’t the kind of silence that felt empty.
It felt earned.
The air was cooler now, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and something softer beneath it—something that hadn’t been there before.
Stillness.
Not forced.
Not fragile.
Just… there.
Nyra stood at the edge of it, her arms resting loosely at her sides, her gaze fixed somewhere beyond the trees as if she was still trying to read something that hadn’t fully revealed itself yet.
The power beneath her skin hadn’t faded.
It never did anymore.
It just—
Waited.
“You’re doing it again.”
Darius’s voice came from behind her, low, steady, familiar enough now that it didn’t startle her.
She didn’t turn immediately.
“Doing what?” she asked.
“Thinking like you’re the only one carrying this.”
A fai
