Kaelen's POV
I rise before Celestine, careful not to disturb the gentle rhythm of her sleep. The sheets still smell like her, faintly sweet, tinged with warmth. I pause at the edge of the bed, just long enough to watch her chest rise and fall once, slow and steady. There’s a serenity in it that I should enjoy, a softness that would be easy to linger in, but my mind refuses to rest. Something else claws at me, insistent, demanding attention.
Black Serenity. The name echoes in my head, a whisper from a memory that refuses to fade. The masked pianist. The song she played—the one that had made my chest tighten, my breath catch the very first time I heard it in the school music room. I shake my head, irritation cutting through the nostalgia. How could I have missed this? “Why didn’t I think o
