And I’m the woman who almost stole that from both of them.
___________________________________________________________________________
The apartment is quiet.
Nessa’s breathing is slow, steady, the soft hiccup of post-sleep dreams curling from her room like warm fog. Her claw-toy, Razorclaw, is tucked under her chin, one golden eye just barely peeking out from beneath the sheets.
I close her door gently.
Vael sits on the couch, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor like the answer to everything might be hidden in the weave of the old rug.
I don’t sit yet.
I just lean against the kitchen threshold, arms crossed, too many thoughts tangled up in my chest.
He finally speaks, low and even. “You used to hum in your sleep.”
My breath catches.
“I’d wake up before you sometimes,” he continues. “And just lie there listening. Trying to match the tune.”
“I don’t hum anymore,” I whisper.
“I know.” He lifts his head. “I can hear the silence.”
Gods.
I move to the edge of the couch and lower myself into the chair across from him. The fabric creaks under me.
For a long time, neither of us says anything.
“I didn’t expect today to happen like that,” I finally murmur.
Vael exhales, slow and sharp. “Me neither.”
I swallow hard. “She… she didn’t cry.”
“She’s brave.” His voice catches. “She gets that from you.”
A silence blooms again. But this one is less barbed. More fragile.
“I thought I’d have rage,” he admits. “When I saw her. When Iknew.I thought I’d fall apart with fury.”
“And?”
His eyes flick up to mine. “All I felt was… shame.”
My throat closes.
“I should’ve died on that ridge,” he says, voice raw. “But I didn’t. I lived. And for five years, I didn’t know her. I didn’tknow.”
“I thought you were dead.”
His mouth twitches. “Part of me was.”
I lean forward, elbows on my knees. My fingers twist together. “I didn’t plan to lie. I told myself I’d wait for confirmation. But the weeks passed. Then months. Then I had her and…”
“You were alone,” he finishes.
