Chapter Twenty
The koi pond became, without either of them really planning it, the place where Rafael and Amara ended up having most of their real conversations. Most evenings after Kael went to bed, they would drift out there, standing at the railing under string lights the estate’s staff had apparently kept maintained for decades without anyone actually enjoying them.
“We should talk about how this actually works,” Amara said, about three weeks into living there, watching the fish move under the surface in slow, unbothered circles. “Day to day, I mean. Not the legal stuff. The actual living-in-the-same-house stuff.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we have spent three weeks dancing around each other like roommates who do not know each other’s schedules yet. I think we need rules. Boundari
