Seraphine's POV
The morning Xander rode out of our gates, I expected to feel relief. Instead I felt the way you feel after holding your breath underwater for too long, when you break the surface and your lungs remember how to work but your body still braces for drowning.
Amara slept through it. She had screamed her opinion at a king the day before and now she was exhausted, one fist curled under her chin, the other flung out like she was conducting a dream. I stood over her cradle for longer than I needed to. Not because I was worried. Because looking at her was the only thing that morning that felt solid.
"You're staring at her again," Ryder said from the doorway.
"I'm allowed."
"You are." He came to stand beside the cradle, and for a moment we just watched her breathe. There is a pa
