Chapter 58 — The Shape of Returning
Elowen slept for nearly two days.
Not the restless half sleep she had grown accustomed to where her mind chased consequences even in dreams but a deep, heavy stillness that pulled her under and held her there. It was the kind of sleep that felt geological, like sediment settling after a storm. Her breathing slowed to a steady tide. The tension that had lived in her shoulders for months unknotted by degrees.
Kael barely left her side.
He sat in the chair beside the bed at first, then on the floor when the chair began to feel like a barrier. He counted her breaths without meaning to. Every time her chest rose, something inside him loosened. Every time it paused too long between exhales, fear tightened again.
When he did leave, it was only to bring water, broth she might tolerate later, or to quietly reassure the people asking after her that she was alive, safe, and not gone.
That distinction mattered more than anyone wanted to admit.
