I step back slightly from the table, the plan settling into place.
Not perfect.
Not safe.
But strong.
Logan moves with me—unspoken, aligned.
And for a second, the noise of the room fades again.
Just enough for me to feel it.
The difference.
“I’m not disappearing,” I say quietly.
Not to the room.
To him.
His eyes hold mine.
“I know,” he replies.
And this time—
I believe him.
More than that—
I believe myself.
Because I felt the pull.
The instinct to retreat.
To go quiet.
To make myself smaller so nothing could reach him through me.
And I didn’t.
Not completely.
Not this time.
That’s new.
That’s… something.
As the room shifts back into motion around us, plans forming, voices rising just enough to matter—
I realize something I didn’t expect.
Sentinel didn’t break me.
He showed me exactly where the fault line is.
