DAMIEN'S POVI woke before Elara.That has become my habit. Early light, the apartment still quiet, Elara's breathing steady beside me.I lay there for a few minutes not thinking about anything specific. Just the ceiling and the morning and the weight of her head against my shoulder.Then carefully, without waking her, I got up.Coffee first. The machine knew what I wanted by now, or rather I'd learned what I wanted and stopped changing it. Black, two cups, the second one sitting until it was almost cold because that was when I actually drank it.I stood at the window with the first cup.Her, obviously. But also this. The quiet before the day started.I heard her moving at seven-thirty.She came into the kitchen with her hair loose and her reading glasses already on, which meant she'd been checking her phone in bed."Yuki emailed," she said. "She started the piece.""Already?""Yesterday afternoon. She sent a photograph of the first marks."She held out her phone. The image was a roug
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