Zoe POV

The sand is warm under my feet.

I didn't expect to feel this specifically. I've been on beaches before — briefly, in transit, between one thing and another — but I've never stood on one with nothing in front of me except water and light and the particular silence of a place that doesn't ask anything of you. The sea breeze comes in slow and steady, moving through my hair, carrying salt and distance, and I stand in it and let it.

You look happy. Iris's voice ...