Here's the full updated text with sensory and world details added to get it over 1500 words:
POV: Bastien
The night is too quiet.
I've been on watch for three hours now, and every sound makes me tense. The rustle of leaves in the breeze. The distant call of an owl hunting. The creak of settling branches overhead. Not because of external threats—we'd smell danger long before it arrived. No, I'm listening for her.
Aphrodite sleeps fitfully most nights, her rest plagued by memories I helped create. Tonight is different. Tonight she's peaceful, curled on her side with one hand tucked under her cheek. Moonlight catches in her white hair, making it glow softly against the dark ground like fresh snow in starlight. Her breathing is deep and even, her face relaxed in a way it never is when she's awake.
She looks young like this. Vulnerable. Nothing like the powerful Direwolf who faced down an entire pack without flinching.
