The Life We Deserve

Kaelia

All that fear I’d been carrying, months of it, waiting for something terrible to happen. Every time I flinched at a noise, or checked on Bianca in the night to make sure she was still breathing, or second-guessed opening the curtains. All of it finally let go.

Valen knelt beside me, holding Bianca. “It’s okay, Kaelia. We’re okay.”

I wiped at my face, trying to believe it. “I didn’t even rea