"Strength brought me to him; surrender kept me there."
The Azure Coast Retreat was an active attempt to dismantle my internal shifter equilibrium. Located two thousand miles from the Citadel's granite certainty, it was a palace of sensory overload: the incessant whisper of waves, the heavy, unfamiliar fragrance of tropical flora, and a light so relentlessly bright it felt aggressive. It was a place designed for surrender, and every disciplined, logical nerve in my body protested the exquisite lack of order.
