Echoes of the Night
The morning light slipped quietly into Ares’s mansion, soft at first, then bolder, drawing gold lines across the floor and over the small forms huddled beneath the blankets. The air was thick with the faint scent of breakfast — eggs, toast, and warm milk. It was the kind of domestic peace that felt unnatural in a house that had seen too much of everything but peace.
Tessa sat beside the children at the dining table. Her eyes were swollen from crying, but her touch was gentle as she helped Beauty with her cereal. Pretty, still half asleep, leaned on her mother’s arm. Kamal yawned between bites, his voice too small when he spoke. “I like how you arranged our kitchen,” he said, as though the compliment might fix the ache that lived behind his ribs.
Tessa smiled. Finally
