SERENA'S POV
Two days of this now.
Two days of waking up in Luca's bed and lying still for a few minutes before getting up, two days of eating what the maids brought without arguing about any of it, two days of telling people I was fine when they asked and meaning absolutely nothing by the word. I was getting good at it in a way that bothered me more than I wanted to admit, the same way it bothers you to realize you've grown into a habit you never agreed to.
The version of me that existed inside this house was quiet and composed and gave nobody a reason to be concerned about her. She ate her meals on time. She thanked the maids when they brought her things. She slept reasonable hours and didn't smash anything else. The version of me underneath that one was doing something entirely different, and the strain of running both at once had its own particular kind of exhaustion that had nothing to do with the burns or the grief or any of the obvious things.
