Draven found me at sunset.
I'd gone out to the east garden because the house felt too small and my heat was climbing again. Not the spike. Just the steady build that said I had maybe twenty-four hours before my body stopped asking politely and started making demands I couldn't refuse.
He sat on the stone bench like he'd been there the whole time. Like I'd walked into his space instead of the other way around.
"You're avoiding Kael."
I crossed my arms. Didn't sit. "I'm thinking."
"For two days?" He tilted his head. "That's a lot of thinking."
"I have a lot to think about."
"The bond."
I didn't answer.
He studied me with those dark eyes that catalogued everything and gave away nothing. "You're angry."
"I'm—" I stopped. Breathed. "I'm tired of people deciding my life for me."
"No one's deciding anything. You are."
