Sera’s pov:
Something snapped inside me before anyone said a word.
It wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was quiet—like a thread pulled too tight for too long that finally just gave way. I woke up with a heaviness in my chest that wasn’t exactly fear; it was knowing. The kind of instinct that arrives seconds before the phone rings with bad news.
Damien was alive.
I knew it the way you know a storm has passed even if the land has been stripped bare. The air felt too still, too sharp. He was alive, but something in him had shifted. He had crossed a line and hadn’t come back.
I sat up slowly, grounding myself by pressing my palms flat against the sheets. I didn’t call for anyone. I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry.
I dressed.
My movements were steady, almost calm, and that scared me more than pani
