Kieran’s POV

Healing should feel like relief. It doesn’t.

It feels like standing in the eye of a storm, the sudden calm so complete it makes my skin itch. My body lies still beneath clean linen, breath steady, pulse strong—stronger than it has been since Killian’s blade tore through me. The pain that once lived everywhere has receded to a dull memory, like an old scar you only notice when the weather changes.

By every measure that matters, I am healing. That’s what unsettles me ...