lazed door in thin, calm strips, and streaked dust into brittle fingers of light. Lost in thought, she sat and sipped on a tepid cube of tea and twiddled her wedding ring, which caught a faint

ore would continue to dull. However, today, it felt sharper and em

e radio. It was just him. Unfussed, unflappable, making the very nothingness of the apartment seem stable and subversive. Luna watched him, feeling her love for him fill her so suddenly that she was surpr

nto the middle distance in front of him just like he h

Is that how ob

he said, standing at last, he

ys I married you because I was grateful," she said. "That I was tolerant. That I marr

er tender hand, then made her come down a little before the first

. She sat back down on him. His pulse node is raw. Luna shu

approved. The wedding band hugged her finger more heavily than the ring, a heartbeat of resistance to the dark whispers that she married for safety and gratitude and not for love. Luna exhaled another breath she'd been holding, pressing her cheek to the cool, smooth curve of the mug to ground herself. Ethan sat by her side; his presence was that grounding, as steady as his pulse, as reassuring as the hand that brushed hers and spoke from the silence in his mind. Outside,

o the crown of her head. Luna relished the cooling sensation and wished t

e knock

the apartmen

anessa, or one of her cousins, who would ask a biting question just loud enough to hide the acid beneath it. When she

iss Harris

to have been. She ripped it open and pulled out its eight-word message, whose text could only h

ch heaved

n was at her side, staring at her face and not the note he held. "H

rd had her composure

arity. She eats and eats. The dishes tinkle softly as Ethan puts them away. Luna mops the counter as Ethan dabs at the bathroom mirror. They work

the balcony, railing, smile gleaming, eyes frozen with suspicion. "Luna! So sweet, tempered you

her shoulders back. "I married him e

ng her around the waist. "Hear what gives people

ted eyes that burned into her back. By dark, Luna was exhausted. Wor

, and now the sun was settling low. He kissed her temple, her cheek, then crispered, steady

ling the strength within. The still fire he ca

r phone

et's visit

azed on her with an uncompromising eye. "We will be safe," Ethan instru

her, trying to breathe while nearing horror and unmendable, both poised to flatten their love befo

r, it