Morning on the Alpha floor carried a different kind of weight.
Not the suffocating pressure Lila had come to associate with leadership halls and whispered judgments, but a steadier presence, like stone that had settled after a quake. The light filtering through the tall windows was soft, dust motes drifting lazily as if the world itself had decided to move more carefully now.
Lila lay awake, listening.
Footsteps passed outside her door. A low murmur of voices. The distant clang of metal as guards changed shifts. Life continuing, deliberate and watchful.
She pressed a hand to her stomach again, slower this time, breathing through the quiet reassurance that answered her touch. The fear was still there, tucked into the edges of her thoughts, but it no longer ruled her every breath.
A kno
