Aria's POV
Four months in, and the fear had gradually given way to something steadier — not gone, never entirely gone, but softened into ordinary anticipation rather than constant dread.
My power had settled too, exactly as Sophia's research predicted, the wild flares of the early weeks smoothing into something I could feel building and redirect before it overwhelmed me. Evelyn still insisted on weekly checks, but even she had begun to relax, the particular tension she'd carried since that first flare easing week by week.
I stood in front of the mirror that morning, studying the small, unmistakable curve beneath my hands — still modest, but undeniably there now.
Damien found me like that, wrapping his arms around me from behind, hands settling gently over mine against my stomach.
"You
