LOGIN~Caden's POV~He is aware of the distance from the moment Miriam closes the front door behind her.It arrives immediately, a kind of awareness that settles into his chest before he has even consciously registered that he and Selene are alone in the apartment for the first time without the buffer of her mother's quiet presence somewhere nearby in another room. He notices the silence shift, the particular weight of a space that suddenly contains only the two of them and whatever has been building, slowly and without acknowledgment, across these past weeks of careful, measured visits.She suggests coffee. He says yes, though they have both already had coffee that afternoon, the cups still sitting rinsed in the rack from an hour earlier, a fact neither of them mentions out loud. He understands, the moment he agrees, that the coffee is not actually about coffee. It is about giving both of them somewhere practical to stand, some small task to occupy their hands while the air in the room doe
~Selene's POV~It is a Tuesday afternoon, ordinary enough at the start, when Miriam announces she is taking the twins to the park."They need the air," Miriam says, already gathering the stroller, the diaper bag, the small folding hat Lior has recently decided he hates and refuses to keep on his head for longer than thirty seconds at a stretch. "Dax will come with us."She does not ask Caden to leave. She does not suggest, even obliquely, that he should accompany them or that the visit should end early to accommodate the outing. She simply gathers the twins, gathers her own light cardigan, and heads for the door with the particular efficiency of someone who has decided something and does not intend to discuss it further.The door closes behind her.Selene and Caden are alone in the apartment, properly alone, without the muffled sounds of Miriam moving through another room to anchor the silence into something manageable.The quiet that settles over the apartment is different from any q
~Selene's POV~Petra arrives mid-evening the way she usually does, unannounced and already talking before the door is fully open, a bottle of wine in one hand and her phone in the other, scrolling through something she clearly intends to show Selene the moment she sits down.The introduction to Caden, when it happens, is unavoidable.He is still there finishing the visit's allotted time when Petra walks in, and Selene watches the brief flicker cross both their faces, the recognition that this particular meeting has been circling for weeks now and has finally, without much ceremony, arrived."You must be Petra," Caden says, standing."And you must be the husband." Petra sets the wine bottle down on the counter with a thud that suggests she has decided, on principle, not to be overly formal about any of this. "Ex-husband. Sorry. I keep doing that.""You're not the first," Caden says.It is, Selene thinks, the right kind of response, dry without being defensive, acknowledging the awkward
~Selene's POV~The dinner unfolds in small, ordinary increments, the kind of evening Selene has not allowed herself to fully imagine having again, not with him, not in this particular configuration of people gathered around her own table.Miriam sets out plates without being asked, the same quiet domestic competence she brings to nearly everything, and takes her seat across from Selene with the twins' high chairs flanking either side of the table like small, opinionated sentries standing guard over the proceedings. Lior is in rare form tonight, banging his spoon against the tray with escalating enthusiasm before anyone has even finished serving the food, as though the anticipation itself requires its own percussion section.Caden sits where Selene gestures for him to sit, the chair closest to Lior's high chair, and within minutes of the meal actually starting, Lior has managed to fling a piece of bread directly into his father's lap with considerable accuracy for someone his age.Sele
~Selene's POV~Caden arrives at the usual hour, and Selene meets him in the hallway before he has even fully stepped through the door, speaking before he can settle into the visit the way he normally does."I know about the ultimatum," she says. "Rhys told my mother."He stops where he is, just inside the threshold, something shifting briefly across his face before he settles it back into the careful stillness he has learned to bring to these conversations. "I wasn't going to ask you to—""I know you weren't," she says. "That's why I'm bringing it up myself, before you have a chance to decide whether you would have asked or not."He waits, watching her, the way he has learned to wait through these conversations without rushing to fill the silence with reassurance she hasn't actually asked him for."I want you to understand something clearly," she continues. "I'm aware of the political situation. I understand what the twins' unrecognized status could mean for how the council weighs Dor
~Selene's POV~The message arrives through Miriam, not through Caden directly, a careful distinction Selene notices the moment her mother sets her phone down on the kitchen table and says, "Rhys texted me.""What did he say?""He thought I should know before you heard it secondhand. There's an ultimatum. From Ironmere." Miriam slides the phone across the table so Selene can read the message herself, the short, careful paragraph Rhys has clearly composed with some thought about how much to include and how much to leave for Caden to explain in his own time, if he chooses to explain it at all.Selene reads it twice. Dorian's demand. The territorial claim. The thirty-day deadline. Vivienne's likely hand in the wording, which Rhys mentions only as a suspicion, careful not to state it as confirmed fact.She sets the phone down and does not immediately say anything.This is, she notices, the second time now that information about Cresthaven has reached her through a deliberately indirect pat
~Selene’s POV~I hang up.I don't think about it — my thumb simply moves and the call ends and I stand on the pavement outside the flower stall with my heart hammering so loud I can hear it in my temples.Three seconds later, she calls again.I watch the screen. Let it ring. Let it ring. Let it rin
~Selene’s POV~"Congratulations, Luna Ashford. You're going to be a mother."Dr. Priya Noel's voice is still ringing in my ears as I step out of the private clinic and into the pale afternoon light.I stop on the pavement, pressing one hand flat against the cold stone wall to steady myself, the oth
~Caden’s POV~The report arrives at half past eight in a folder so thin it seems insufficient for what it contains.Marcus, his lead financial analyst, sets it on the desk without ceremony and stands back with the posture of a man who has delivered difficult news before and has learned not to stand
~Selene’s POV~I don't sleep.I lie on my side of the bed — our bed — and stare at the ceiling while Caden's side remains cold and untouched. I heard him leave again at midnight, the front door closing with a finality that vibrated through the walls.I don't ask myself where he went.I already know







