Lorien POV
The soft click of the door roused me from sleep, followed by the faint echo of Auren’s footsteps fading down the hall. He was gone for the day. For a moment, I lay still, cocooned in warmth, realizing it had been years since I’d slept that deeply. But silence is a cruel thing it lets the mind grow loud. And mine did, chasing restless thoughts that wouldn’t let me drift back into the quiet.
Trusting Auren wasn’t an option not fully. But he was the only person I had here, and that made things complicated. I didn’t know how to face him after last night. An apology, though, felt necessary. I’d brushed against a raw wound without knowing it. His father… the way his expression had shuttered made everything clear.
I knew that kind of pain. The kind that lingers like smoke in your lu
