No pressure. No expectation.
I sit, and the chair doesn’t feel like a trap this time.
As I take my first bite, warmth spreads through me, simple and grounding, and something inside my chest loosens. I didn’t realize how long it’d been since I allowed myself something this ordinary, something this kind. Damian watches me from the counter without hovering, without intruding, and when he sees me actually eating, relief flickers across his face before he looks away.
It makes my throat tighten.
“Thank you,” I say quietly, surprising both of us.
He nods once. “You’re welcome.”
After breakfast, he doesn’t mention training.
Instead, he asks, “Would you like to get out of the valley for the day?”
I blink at him. “Out…how?”
“There’s a trail into the mountains,” he says. “High ground. It's quiet out there, away from the pack. No council. No expectations.”
The offer feels like a gift.
So, I nod my head slowly and head back to my bedroom to prepare for the day.
No council. No expectations.
For the first time in what feels like forever, I don't feel any pressure. I mean, it's still there, at the back of my mind, but I'm able to push it back without focusing on it too much.
Damian is enough of a distraction—a welcome one—as he leads me toward the hiking trail.
The mountains are different from the valley—wilder, sharper, untouched in a way that makes my lungs ache with every breath of thin, clean air. We walk side by side, sometimesin silence, sometimes talking about nothing at all. He tells me stories about growing up here, about sneaking away as a teenager, about learning to control water magic when he'd gained the ability to shapeshift on his eighteenth birthday. I laugh more than I expect to, the sound feeling strange and unfamiliar in my own ears.
For a while, I forgot about fire.
I forget about demons.
I even forget about the nightmare.
We’re sitting on a rock kissed by the warmth of the sun, overlooking the valley, when Damian’s expression shifts. I notice the slight tick and follow his gaze as his eyes flicker to the back of the mountain.
That's when it hits me…
We're in the same spot we used to visit when we were dating.
Sundays.
Our picnics after hiking.
“Damian…” I murmur, shock crippling my breathing.
He nods gently, getting comfortable as he bends his knees and presses his elbows into his thighs. “Yes, Sophie…we just came up the other way this time.”
I nod thoughtfully as I stare at the panoramic view of the valley from up here, my body covered in sweat from the hike, glittering in a shade of gold that never was there before.
It's because I'm different, and because the valley in front of me doesn't seem normal anymore.
Not in the way it used to.
Nothing is as it was.
