Caelan POV:
She’s quiet.
Not distant, not withdrawn, not slipping away from me in any way that raises alarm, but turned inward, like her thoughts have drifted somewhere private and chosen to stay there a while. I notice it immediately — the way her smile still comes warm when I look at her but doesn’t quite linger, the way her attention floats just a fraction before anchoring again, and the way the bond between us hums steady rather than unsettled, alert instead of strained.
It feels different after this morning.
Not wrong, not reckless, just… shifted. Something in me crossed a line before I stopped to question it, and something in her answered without hesitation. I don’t regret it. Not the closeness, not the heat, not the moment restraint stopped being theoretical and became something
