Lila woke before dawn.
Not because of pain this time, or fear clawing her from sleep—but because something inside her had gone still.
Decision had settled.
She lay quietly, listening to the gentle rhythm of Alden’s breathing in the cradle beside her bed, feeling the faint, steady pulse of her daughter within her. The healer’s wing was hushed at this hour, the world outside wrapped in the soft gray that came before morning chose its shape.
She placed one hand over her abdomen.
I won’t let you learn how to survive by watching me disappear, she promised silently.
The thought felt firm. Solid. Not born of anger or heartbreak—but of clarity.
Caleb had chosen.
Not in words.
Not in declarations.
But in absence.
And Lila was done bleeding quietly for choices she had never been part of.
