Chapter 82. The Quiet Before the Break

Harper woke before the light simulation started, her body humming with memory, but her mind already recalibrating. Breath slow, spine warm against sheets tangled from shared sleep, she listened. The silence wasn’t comfort. It was information.

The system was quiet.

Too quiet.

Beside her, Knox stirred. One arm curved around her waist and drew inward, his palm settling at the dip beneath her ribs like a compass finding north. His thumb brushed the slope where her shoulder met neck—a touch that didn’t demand, didn’t presume. Just confirmed something: he could still claim her.

And she would still let him.

His voice, rough with sleep, was the first sound of the day. “Last night…”

It wasn’t a question. Not quite a statement either. More like a piece of fragile truth passed into the air between them.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she turned until her lips brushed his. Not a kiss. A calibration. His breath hitched slightly, not from surprise, but from