The days had softened.
Less fear. More routine.
The broken door stayed shut now.
The flickering kitchen light was replaced with warm candles.
And the silence between the three of them had started to feel less like grief and more like worship.
---
Aaliyah woke before them most mornings.
She'd wrap herself in Silas's black hoodie — still smelling faintly of musk and metal — and make the tea Lucien liked best, the kind with cloves and too much sugar.
They didn't speak much at breakfast.
But Lucien always kissed her forehead now.
And Silas always tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear before heading outside to chop firewood he didn't need.
---
They each touched her differently.
Lucien — with reverence, like she was fragile glass he was terrified of breaking.
Silas — with grounding firmness, like he was afraid he would float away if he didn't hold her tight.
Aaliyah soaked in both, unsure how she'd once thought affection had to be earned.
---
That afternoon, a storm came.
Rain pelted the tin roof like bullets.
They couldn't go outside.
So they stayed in bed.
---
Lucien was the first to speak, his voice low. "You ever think about what this is?"
Aaliyah was curled between them, one leg over Silas's thigh, her cheek against Lucien's bare chest.
"I try not to name things," she said. "When you name them, they start to die."
Silas grunted in agreement, half-asleep.
But then Lucien said softly, "I think about it all the time."
His hand slid down her back, slow. "I think about how the world would tear us apart if it knew."
Aaliyah looked up at him. "It already tried."
Lucien nodded.
"And we're still here."
---
They didn't need more words.
Only touch.
The three of them moved together in the dim room — no urgency, no frenzy.
Lucien kissed her lips with trembling patience while Silas pressed into her shoulder from behind, kissing the curve of her neck like she was something sacred.
Their hands met on her hips.
Their breaths tangled on her skin.
Aaliyah didn't know whose fingers undressed her first — only that she didn't stop them.
And when the storm outside broke louder, their hearts beat harder.
Not from fear.
From the miracle that they were still alive.
Still together.
---
Later, wrapped in sweat and silence, Aaliyah whispered:
"If this is wrong, then let me be ruined."
Silas kissed her shoulder.
Lucien kissed her tears.
And in the quiet that followed, she smiled for the first time in days.
---