Selene didn't say anything.
She shifted just enough to close the small distance between them, her movement unhurried, deliberate in its simplicity. Then she placed her hand gently on Charlotte's thigh, the touch light but certain.
That was all.
No reassurance spoken aloud. No attempt to fix what couldn't be fixed. Just presence, steady and real, offered without conditions.
Charlotte startled at the contact, then slowly relaxed. Her breathing eased, the tightness in her shoulders loosening by degrees as the silence settled differently around her. She didn't look up right away, but she didn't pull away either.
The weight in her chest didn't disappear, but it softened, made bearable by the quiet understanding in that single gesture.
For a moment longer, the carriage rolled on with only that shared stillness between them, and Charlotte found that she could breathe again.
