Their home had rarely felt this quiet.
After the chaos of the morning's negotiations—the spells, the bickering factions, the baby lightning—silence had fallen like a long exhale. The enchanted wards pulsed with soft gold, slowly healing from the strain of housing three delegations that barely tolerated one another.
Samantha stood by the wide window overlooking the inner courtyard, watching faint wisps of energy dissipate into the air. The scent of wet stone and morning pastries still clung to the space, and somewhere in the distance, she could hear Luna humming while cleaning up the last of the potion stains.
Behind her, she could sense each of her mates as distinctly as if they were carved into her bones. Marcus, solid and brooding near the hearth, flipping absently through a journal he wasn't reading. Kai, sprawled across the couch with his head tilted back, tapping a rhythm on his thigh. Callum, quiet but alert, his dragon aura humming faintly beneath his skin like coiled heat.
