The night before deployment slipped by in fragments of restless silence. Richard lay awake long after the room had gone still, long after Ahce's soft, steady breathing had settled into the quiet. Her presence beside him should have brought peace. It always had before. But tonight, the sound only scraped against the guilt gathering inside him like gravel under skin.
A warm pool of lamplight brushed over her sleeping form, catching in the faint curve of her cheek and the fall of her hair across the pillow. To an outsider, she might have looked serene, untouched by shadows. But to Richard, every detail was a reminder of everything he kept from her.
In the hush of that hour, he studied her the way a man memorizes the last thing he'll see before walking into darkness. She shifted slightly in her sleep, her hand searching blindly across the sheets until her fingers brushed his. Even asleep, she reached for him. The innocence of it cleaved him open.
