Silent Scars

CHAPTER 84

DOMAIN HASTINGS

The floor was covered in a sea of blankets, mismatched and wrinkled, half tucked and half kicked off. Someone had dragged all the pillows down from the upstairs bedrooms. A few couch cushions were thrown in too, forming a makeshift nest in the middle of the living room.

That’s where we were now.

All of us.

Asleep.

Except me.

The room was quiet now, save for the slow, steady rhythm of their breathing. It was the kind of silence that used to make me restless.

Not tonight.

Tonight, it felt sacred.

Ariana lay in the center, small and quiet, tucked like something precious between Marcus and Luca. Her hair was a tangled mess, her cheek squished slightly against the sleeve of Marcus’s hoodie, and her hand loosely curled against Luca’s arm.

Marcus hadn’t moved once.

He sat slouched against the couch, his back resting on the cushions, one arm wrapped around Ariana’s shoulders as she curled into his side. His other hand lay gently across her legs, holding her close like he didn’t want to let go. His jaw was slack, mouth slightly open, like exhaustion had finally overpowered that constant tension he carried.

Luca had curled toward her in his sleep. His hand had slipped into hers at some point, still held between their chests, fingers intertwined like it had always been that way. His face was soft, eyes closed beneath heavy lashes, lips parted just slightly like he was still whispering her name in a dream.

And Kendric…

Kendric had wedged himself in beside Marcus, sprawled across two blankets like a starfish. One leg thrown haphazardly over Marcus’s, the other bent awkwardly underneath him. His arm was flung across Ariana’s middle, like even in sleep he was guarding her. His face was buried in the back of Marcus’s shoulder, breathing slow and steady.

He looked younger like this.

All of them did.

Less like the warriors they’d become.

More like the boys they used to be.

Safe.

Unburdened.

Loved.

And her, Ariana, in the center of it all, as if she belonged there from the beginning.

Because she did.

Even if we didn’t find her until now.

I pulled my knees up to my chest, arms resting over them, watching the steady rise and fall of her breathing. The glow from the hallway cast soft gold across the room, enough to catch the curve of her cheek, the way she curled slightly into Marcus’s side like she wasn’t used to warmth yet, but she was trying to believe in it.

It hurt to look at her.

Not because she was broken.

Because she wasn’t.

She was healing.

And healing was hard to watch when you knew what it cost.

She shared everything with us tonight, the pieces no one should ever have to say aloud. The words still echoed in my head, brittle and sharp.

"Even when I was hurt.... I wasn't allowed to make a sound."

It made my chest tighten.

I didn’t know why it was hitting me this hard now. Maybe because I’d thought my pain was enough to understand hers. Maybe because when I broke that night and she stayed beside me, I thought we were on the same ground.