Echoes of the Night

The morning light slipped quietly into Ares’s mansion, soft at first, then bolder, drawing gold lines across the floor and over the small forms huddled beneath the blankets. The air was thick with the faint scent of breakfast — eggs, toast, and warm milk. It was the kind of domestic peace that felt unnatural in a house that had seen too much of everything but peace.

Tessa sat beside the children at the dining table. Her eyes were swollen from crying, but her touch was ...