Scarlett’s POV

The morning sun drifts lazily through the small window of my room in Kieran’s territory, casting golden streaks across the wooden floor. For the first time in days, I wake to silence that isn’t filled with tension or fear. The packhouse feels like a distant nightmare, a world I’ve temporarily escaped. Here, in this modest, warm space, I breathe differently. Lighter. Somehow safer.

I stretch, muscles stiff from a restless night, and slip into the day with a cautious ...