"Peace is a fragile thing, especially when guarded by one sleeping cub and one who refuses to blink."
NIKO'S POV
NINE MONTHS LATER
The official name for my assignment that night had been a bureaucratic monstrosity: Sustained Protective Readiness in Domestic Environment.
Someone, somewhere, had definitely been paid far too much money to come up with that. I used to imagine a small council of stiff-backed elders sitting around a polished table, nodding solemnly as they collectively agreed that the words "sustained," "readiness," and "environment" made the whole thing sound dignified and irreplaceably important.
I called it the Long Watch. It was simpler. Honest. Brutally accurate. You said and watched, and if you were me, you tried not to think too hard about how long your spine could endure that gods-forsaken chair.
