For hours, I couldn’t stop watching her.
Even after she fell asleep, curled beneath the thick blanket with Anastasia pressed against her side, I sat there, just breathing, just seeing her. Every rise and fall of her chest felt like proof that the world hadn’t taken everything from me yet.
I’d forgotten what peace looked like.
Now it was right there, wrapped in my coat and whispering my name even in her dreams.
The others had gone quiet. Kai and the men were keeping guard outside, their silhouettes faint through the cabin window. The storm had eased into a tired drizzle, the world muted under a blanket of white.
For the first time in days, I could hear my own heartbeat.
I could breathe without it feeling heavy, without my heart feeling like it was bleeding with each breath that I took
