"You fell asleep!" Violet told him with a soft smile on her face as she sat on the bed right beside him, placing her hand gently on his chest. Her touch lingered there, warm against the steady rise and fall of his breath.
There was so much they had yet to discuss, so many unspoken truths between them, and even more waiting in the shadows.
Violet knew all of that, could feel the weight of it pressing on her shoulders, but in that moment, as she sat beside him and felt his heartbeat under her palm, none of it mattered.
"Longer than usual!" she added, her voice soft but teasing, even as she watched Cain's face scrunch up in annoyance. His golden and crimson gaze flickered over her with restless sharpness, his jaw tightening as though waking itself was an act of sheer will. He focused hard on her, tried harder to stir and move despite her attempts to keep him from getting up.
