I didn’t notice Keegan until his shoulder brushed mine gently.
“You’re quiet.”
I looked up into his face. His gaze locked on mine instantly, steady, and knowing…honestly, too observant for his own good.
Bella stood beside him, arms folded across her chest, the edges of her fox braid already coming loose.
“You look like you’ve been thinking too hard,” she said, sniffing the air. “Have you had anything to eat?”
“I’m fine,” I said quickly.
But then it occurred to me I haven’t eaten much lately. I’d just been zooming from one situation to the next.
“Which means no,” Bella muttered, followed by a look, half stern, half affectionate.
She wandered off toward the dining hall with a muttered promise to bring back something warm.
I turned back to Keegan, who was still watching me.
He said nothing.
Just waited.
“Everything’s okay,” I offered.
He didn’t answer and just tilted his head at me, slowly.
“Really,” I added, forcing a smile that wasn’t as light as I meant it to be. “I’m just… glad to be back inside. It’s cozy chaos in here.”
“It is,” he agreed.
Then, after a beat, he added, “But is everything okay?”
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
And then let out a long breath that seemed to come from someplace far deeper than I expected.
“I don’t know if it’s okay,” I said quietly. “Not yet.”
His expression didn’t change, but something in his shoulders shifted in patience.
His eyes stayed on mine. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I know,” I said. “But I will. I just… need to understand it first.”
He nodded without pushing or stepping away, either.
I glanced past him to where the students darted around Stella, sipping tea and trading theories on enchantment homework and magical dating disasters.
This was the life I had helped breathe back into the Academy.
My fingers curled around the fabric of my sleeve as I thought about what lay ahead.
Keegan must have noticed, because his hand reached out, not quite touching mine, just resting nearby in a quiet offer.
It steadied me more than I expected.
