KAEL
I woke before her.
Not unusual. I rarely slept deeply anymore. But this morning was different.
I lay there watching Aria sleep, my chest tight with an anxiety I couldn't quite shake.
Last night had reminded me too much of the hospital. Of finding her on the floor, unable to breathe, begging me to make it stop. Telling me she wanted to die.
I'd thought we were past that. Thought she was healing.
But the panic attack in the middle of the night… the way she'd trembled in my arms, gasping for air, begging me not to die… it had shaken something loose in me.
Fear.
Raw, visceral fear that I was going to lose her.
Not to Sarah. Not to some external threat.
But to the darkness in her own mind. To trauma and terror I couldn't fight with money or power or violence.
She stirred slightly, her face pressing into my chest, and I forced myself to take a slow breath.
She was okay. She was here. She was safe.
I had to believe that.
