Eve's POV:
Morning came slowly, creeping through the cracks of the cave like a shy intruder. The first light of dawn brushed against the stone walls, painting them in shades of pale gold and silver. The air was crisp, the kind of cold that seeps into your bones if you don't move soon enough. I stirred awake with a yawn, stretching under the soft weight of my dragons, their wings draped over me like heavy blankets.
For a moment, it was peaceful. For a moment, I allowed myself to believe that everything was fine. That Salem would appear any minute now, his enormous shadow filling the mouth of the cave, his voice rumbling low and comforting as it always did. He'd scold me for being reckless, for hatching the eggs without him, and then he'd laugh in that deep, proud way of his when he saw the hatchlings.
But the longer I sat there, waiting… the louder the silence became.
