POV: Aria
I woke to silence. Not the kind that weighs heavy with dread—but the kind that felt earned. Sacred. Like the hush of snow after a storm.
The world around me was soft, blurred by morning light filtering through the curtains. I was wrapped in blankets, the fire low, and Kael’s scent all around me. Earth. Smoke. Rain.
I blinked slowly, cataloging the parts of myself that used to hurt. My chest, where the bond had felt like splinters. My soul, where the Echo Bride used to curl like smoke. My wolf, where the silence had once deafened me.
And now…
I was whole.
Or almost.
She stirred before I did. My wolf. She stretched like a beast waking from long hibernation, groaning, alive. Not fractured. Not whimpering. Just… tired.
You’re here, I whispered in my mind.
We never left, she
