Maximus's POV
For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I felt at peace.
No noise. No war.
Just silence.
A heavy, cleansing silence that wrapped around me like the first breath after drowning.
Emilia and I walked through the halls still holding hands, our fingers locked tightly like we were afraid the world might try to pull us apart again. We were both filthy—blood, dirt, the stench of war clinging to our skin—but she still looked like the only thing in this universe that had ever made sense.
When the bedroom door closed behind us, Emilia let out a small laugh.
A soft, breathy, unbelieving sound.
Then I laughed too.
We both stood there like two idiots—exhausted, bruised, mentally wrecked—but laughing because we had survived something that should have broken us.
She lean
