A Quiet Promise

Dante

February settles over the estate like a quiet promise.

Not the biting, violent cold of December. Not the chaos of sirens and blood and snow. This is softer. The kind of winter that lingers in the mornings, clings to the windows, and fades gently under pale sunlight.

I wake before Vittoria.

For a moment, I just lie there, watching her.

Her hair spills across the pillow, dark and soft, her las