Killian’s POV

Gratitude is a language I speak fluently. People assume it’s sincerity that makes it convincing. They’re wrong. It’s control. Tone, timing, posture—the careful calibration of humility without weakness. Remorse without liability.

I stand outside the infirmary longer than necessary, letting the sounds settle into something ordinary. A murmur of voices. The soft scrape of stone beneath footsteps. Kieran’s breathing—stronger now, steadier, no longer fractured by ...