Because I’m not stepping outside alone.
Chapter 34: Kael
Wren chooses me.
She says my name—quiet, careful, almost unsure she’s allowed to want something—and for a second everything in the kitchen stops.Even the air feels different.Finn’s eyes flick toward me, warm but tight at the corners.Atlas goes still in that way he does before a hit, like he’s bracing for something hard to land.
I don’t move.
Don’t breathe.
Don’t let anything show on my face.
But inside?
Something shifts.
Not triumph.
Not excitement.
Something heavier.Something that feels suspiciously like responsibility and want braided too tightly together.
Wren looks down at her coffee like she regrets choosing.Like she’s waiting for one of us to say it’s wrong.That she’s wrong.
She isn’t.
I set my mug down quietly.“Alright,” I say.“We’ll leave when you’re ready.”
She nods, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear.Her fingers tremble just slightly, and it hits me all over again—she slept last night because we were there.She chose me this morning because she needs steady, and steady is the only thing I’ve ever been good at.
Finn squeezes her shoulder as he passes her on his way to the living room.Atlas lingers a half-second longer than necessary before stepping back, eyes sharp on me like he’s measuring how I’m going to handle this.
I ignore both of them.
“Wren?”I say softly.“We’ll take whatever pace you want.”
