Lorraine's POV
The light filtering through the canopy was soft and pale gray
For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, I woke up without the taste of blood in my mouth. There was no high pitched ringing in my ears, no phantom fire crawling beneath my skin, threatening to split my veins open from the inside.
There was only the quiet. And Kieran.
His chest rose and fell steadily beneath my cheek, his broad arm wrapped around my waist like an anchor keeping me tied to the living world. His heat bled into me, driving away the chill of the forest floor. I didn't move. I barely dared to breathe, terrified that if I shifted, the illusion would shatter, returning me to the nightmare of Felix's silent body, Liandrin's blood soaked house, and the suffocating weight of my own dying body.
"You slept?" Kieran's voice was a low, rough rumble that vibrated through his chest against my ear.
I blinked against the dim morning light, tracing the line along his collarbone. "For once."
