Cassidy
The room was still thick with tension, even as everyone slowly began to step back from the edge. Kieran hadn't stormed off. Elara hadn't called for Orion's head. Damon, surprisingly, hadn't tossed a sarcastic grenade into the room to detonate it.
But my mind wasn't done.
There was something else I needed.
"Mom?" I said quietly, turning toward my mother. "Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"
She looked up, surprised, but nodded. "Of course."
I turned briefly to Kieran. "We'll be in her room."
He nodded without question, though his eyes lingered on me with a quiet intensity I wasn't ready to unpack right now.
I led my mother out of the kitchen and upstairs toward the wing her room was in. She didn't speak until we stepped inside and the door closed behind us with a soft click.
Her space was calm. Lavender. Floral curtains, folded clothes, a stack of books on the side table. It felt like the eye of a hurricane compared to everything swirling around us.
