The silence after it was different.
Not empty.
Not stunned.
Heavy.
Like something had shifted into place and none of us were entirely sure what it meant yet.
I could still feel it in my body. Not just the heat, though that lingered low and steady, coiling in slow pulses that refused to fade. This was something else.
The choice.
It echoed through me, unsettling and sharp.
I chose that.
And they had seen it.
All of them.
Cassian’s hand had not moved from my thigh, but the pressure had changed. Less grounding now. More aware. Like he was holding something fragile instead of containing something wild.
Aurelius stood closer than before. Too close to pretend distance. His control had not returned fully. I could see it in the tension of his shoulders, in the way his gaze tracked every
