Chapter 236: The Dreamwoven Dawn
Jacob~
After I kissed her—slow and tender, like the hush before dawn—Easter suddenly stilled. Her trembling stopped. Her breathing deepened. And just like that... she fell into a deep, unnatural sleep.
I cradled her carefully, brushing a curl from her cheek, watching her chest rise and fall. I felt the pull of magic in the air—the kind of sleep only loss could leave behind.
I closed my eyes and whispered into the space between worlds. "Mariel," I choked on my emotions. "It’s time."
A soft voice answered, like wind dancing through harp strings. "Meet me at the place you bought for her. I’ll be waiting, Mist."
I stood, silently scooping Easter into my arms, her weight light as a sigh against my chest. I moved quickly and quietly down the hallway to Rose’s room.
The soft hum of a lullaby Easter had sung the night before still lingered in the air, like perfume in an empty ballroom.
Rose lay curled in her blanket, hugging a stuffed owl. Her lashes were thick, her cheeks rosy, her little breaths steady. My heart pinched at the sight of her—how innocent she still was in all this. How much I’d give to keep her safe from the weight of the world.
I lifted her gently. She stirred only slightly, tucking her face into my chest and mumbling something about pancakes and clouds.
With one hand cradling Rose, the other pressed to Easter’s side, I summoned the wind. The air around us shimmered, shifted. A pull. A tug. The ground fell away—
—and just like that, we were inside the house I’d bought for her. Quiet wrapped around us like a warm blanket—calm, serene, exactly her kind of peace. Beyond the wide windows, a golden meadow stretched out, glowing in the morning light like something out of a dream. Every detail in the house had her name written on it: floral curtains that danced in the breeze, walls painted a gentle sage, and a hand-carved bed frame that felt like it belonged in a storybook.