Kael's POV
Lucas's words kept echoing in my head even after he'd gone.
"You need to rest, Kael. I've set something in motion to free Soraya. But for now—heal."
It sounded simple enough. Rest. Wait. Recover.
Except none of that came easy when the person you cared about was trapped in enemy hands.
The best I could do was try not to lose my mind.
Maya had been with me most of the day. She was a strange kind of calm—chatty and restless on the outside, but soft and grounding underneath. We'd gone through two movies already, both of which I barely watched. She teased me for not laughing at the funny parts, then threw a pillow at me when I told her she had terrible taste.
When the third movie ended, she switched to some random game, one that required cards and fast hands. She won three rounds in a row.
"You're cheating," I said flatly.
Maya laughed, her head tipping back. "No, you're just slow. You're supposed to think, not stare."
"I was thinking," I muttered. "About strategy."
