The compound slept lightly.
Not in peace.
Not in safety.
Like soldiers resting between waves of war, knowing the next blow could fall without warning.
The storm outside had thinned, but the sky remained a deadened gray. No stars. No moon. Only clouds that seemed to hover lower than nature intended, heavy with the echo of something watching from above.
Inside the suite, the air was warm from candlelight, soft, and almost gentle. But beneath that warmth, the undercurrent of power pulsed in quiet rhythm through the room, the lingering aftershock of the vow that bound Luca and Aria together.
Luca slept first.
He never slept deeply. Never peacefully. But exhaustion had finally dragged him into a heavy, dreamless quiet, his chest rising and falling in slow, controlled rhythm.
Aria watched him.
Not out of fear.
Out of something deeper.
