Anna woke to silence.
Not the absence of sound—Aurelion never truly went quiet—but a curated stillness, a deliberate lowering of the city’s hum until it became something like a held breath. The kind that made the air feel expectant. Observant.
She didn’t open her eyes immediately.
For one suspended moment, she let herself exist in sensation alone: the gentle cradle of the Tower’s force-field beneath her, the steady warmth at her back, the slow, even rhythm of another heartbeat syncing with her own.
Lexus.
His arm was still around her waist, loose but unmistakably present, as if even unconscious he’d decided distance was a risk he wouldn’t take.
The realization settled in her chest with a strange mix of comfort and alarm.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to be.
She opened her ey
