ELODIE’S POV
It was quieter now, Not the house. Not the world outside… me. For the first time in what felt like forever, everything inside me had settled. Not completely, the bond was still there, faint, unwelcome and a distant echo I couldn’t ignore… but it didn’t control me anymore. And that, that changed everything.
I found myself watching him more, not in the way I used to. Not with suspicion, not with questions I didn’t want answers to but with… understanding. Nathan moved through the house like he always had—calm, controlled, deliberate. But now I noticed the smaller things.
The way he checked the doors without thinking, the way his attention shifted every time I moved. The way he always knew where I was. Not to control me, nor protect me… and that difference. It mattered more tha
