POV: APHRODITE
The morning after I release the bond suppression, I wake to find both twins already awake and watching me. Not creepily. Just aware. Hyperaware of the connection that pulses between us now that I've stopped fighting it.
Through the bond, I feel their contrasting reactions clearly.
Draco feels relief. Deep, overwhelming relief that the connection is back to full strength. That he can sense me properly again. That the distance I imposed yesterday is gone.
But Lucen feels terror.
Not of me. Of losing this. Of me deciding to suppress the bond permanently. Of the power I demonstrated and what it means for their future together.
I sit up slowly, and both twins immediately focus on me with an intensity that would have felt suffocating weeks ago. Now it just feels like attention. Complicated attention, but not inherently threatening.
"We need to talk," I say.
"Agreed," Draco responds immediately.
Lucen just nods, his jaw tight with tension.
