Mara’s POV
Expectation is louder than any threat.
It follows me out of the arbitration chamber, down the steps, into the car, and all the way back to the house like a second heartbeat that doesn’t belong to me. By the time the door closes behind us, the adrenaline has burned off, leaving pain and awareness in its place.
This is what comes after.
Not relief.
Not celebration.
Responsibility.
Declan locks the door behind us, the sound final and grounding. He doesn’t touch me. He doesn’t speak. He gives me the one thing no one else has since the verdict.
Silence.
I sit on the edge of the couch, elbows on my knees, staring at my hands like they might explain how I ended up here—alive, victorious, and somehow more vulnerable than ever.
“You should rest,” Declan says finally.
“In a min
