Jaxon POV
The Whispering Spring was a sanctuary, its lagoon still rippling softly under the starlight, the cedar canopy above us a shield against the world. Lyra was nestled against me, her head on my chest, her breaths slow and heavy with the edge of sleep.
The night had been perfect—her laughter as we splashed in the water, the way her eyes sparkled when she shared her dream of seeing the ocean, the quiet promises we wove in our late-night whispers. My heart was full, swollen with a love I’d never thought I’d find, a love that made every scar, every betrayal, worth enduring. But as her eyelids fluttered, her body softening into mine, a quiet worry crept in, a shadow I couldn’t ignore.
She was exhausted, her face peaceful but tinged with the weariness of the day, and I couldn’t bear t
