Anton drifted awake not from sleep, but into awareness. The leaden exhaustion that had pinned him to the bed was gone, replaced by a deep, cellular calm. The howling wind and the restless sea were now a distant symphony, not a threat. For a few precious seconds, he existed in a perfect, weightless void. No company, no enemies, no voice in his head that wasn't his own.Then, the sensation returned.The first was the warmth. A solid, comforting heat along his right side. The second was the weight—a gentle pressure on his shoulder. The third was the touch. Fingers laced tightly with his, palm to palm, a connection so fundamental it felt less like holding hands and more like a completed circuit.He turned his head on the thin pillow.Sabatine was slumped in the wooden chair, pulled so close to the bed that his torso was half-propped against the mattress, his head resting on his own arm, which was stretched out beside Anton’s shoulder. He was asleep, his face turned towards Anton, illumina
Last Updated : 2025-12-10 Read more