Damien pulled her hand gently, a silent request.
Elara understood immediately. She slipped onto the bed properly, letting him wrap his arms around her from behind, her back against his chest. The embrace was desperate rather than romantic – a drowning man clinging to driftwood.
"Tell me what happened while we were apart," she said softly.
So he did. He described the battle, but not the efficiency of killing. He described the fear of feeling nothing. The horror of returning to the estate and not understanding why people mattered. The two days of isolation trying to remember how to be human.
And Elara listened, her presence warm and real and there in a way nothing else was.
When he finished, she was quiet for a moment.
"The captain," she said finally. "Seria Thornwood. She's been asking questions about you at the Church."
"I'm aware. She thinks I'm a threat."
"Are you?"
"Yes." He said it honestly. "I'm dangerous. The power makes me dangerous, but not to you."
