Chapter 57 - Scent and Shelter

Sable woke to the sound of rain tapping the window in a steady rhythm, the kind that made the pack house feel older and more enclosed, as if stone and timber were drawing inward to keep everything precious on the inside. For a few slow breaths she stayed still, half buried under furs that smelled like Cassian and smoke and the faint herbal trace that always clung to the upper corridor after a healer passed through. The warmth beside her was solid, familiar, and when she shifted slightly to test her shoulder, Cassian's arm tightened across her waist with sleepy certainty that made her exhale through a smile she didn't allow herself often.