His Darkest Craving

The Mirror

I waited until morning.

Not because I needed time to decide whether to confront him; that decision had made itself the moment the photograph landed on the table. However, I had learned long ago that the most important conversations required my full attention, and I had spent the night feeling particularly drained from grasping a significant truth and then spending hours reconstructing my understanding of everything related to it.

I needed to be sharp for the task.

I needed to have all my defenses in place, my instincts fully alert, and the complete focused clarity that I brought to situations where I could not afford to make mistakes.

I waited until the compound had moved through its early morning routines and the east wing had settled into its midday quiet. I waited until I had eaten