Cassian POV
I couldn't sleep.
The room is quiet, too quiet. The kind of silence that feels forced, like something is pressing down on the air and holding everything still. No footsteps. No murmurs. No movement from within and outside the house.
A town full of people shouldn't sound like this at just 9 in the evening.
I stare at the ceiling, listening harder, as if something might slip through the cracks of the silence if I wait long enough.
Nothing.
My jaw tightens.
This place isn't right, at all.
I push myself up from the bed and move quietly across the room. Every step is deliberate, controlled. I pause at the door, listening again.
Still nothing.
.
I open it slowly and step into the main living space.
Alistair is already there.
Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes alert.
Of course.
"You too?" I murmur.
He lets out a quiet breath. "Couldn't sleep."
I nod once. That's all that needs to be said.
A beat passes.
"You feel it?" he asks.
"Yeah."
