(Romulus POV)
Night returned like a held breath finally released.
The oasis was quieter than it had been in days, as though the city itself sensed that something had reached its limit. Lanterns floated low over the water channels, their reflections trembling with every shift of the breeze. Beyond the walls, the desert slept—vast, watchful, eternal.
I did not summon Almera.
She came anyway.
The soft knock at the door should not have unsettled me. Yet it did. Because I knew—before I opened it—that tonight would not allow me the comfort of restraint.
She stood there in simple attire, her hair loosely bound, her expression open but alert. No ceremony. No armor. Just Almera, standing in the space she had claimed beside me long before either of us named it.
"You look like you've been wrestling ghosts," she said lightly.
I stepped aside to let her in.
"Only one," I replied. "And it refuses to be quiet."
