The cave was neat.
That was the first thing Neve noticed when he walked in. Not what he had expected from a sick room in a beast world. No clutter, no scattered herbs, no disorganised chaos. Everything had a place. The dried plants along the wall were sorted by type. The water vessels were clean. The mat on the floor was fresh straw, recently changed.
Gideon had been taking care of this space for a long time. Carefully. Consistently. The kind of care that came from someone who refused to give up even when nothing was working.
Neve looked at him sideways.
Gideon was already moving toward the mat, adjusting his expression into something professional and composed.
