After dinner, and thirty minutes of stretching, Sienna joined Elias in bed. The compound was quiet, the echoes of the day's storm had long passed. Sienna lay beside her husband, the moonlight spilling across the lantern near the window, creating moving shadows on the wall. Elias was awake, his ears twitched faintly, betraying his restlessness.
For a long while, he said nothing, and Sienna assumed there would be no night time conversation. Then, in a voice low and rough, he broke the silence.
"I should have investigated the academy on a deeper scale before sending the children there. I feel like I failed them. If something worse had happened to your brother, it would have been my fault."
She turned her head, studying the sharp line of his jaw. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, but his hand clenched the blanket tightly. Sienna reached out, resting her palm against his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heartbeat beneath the layers of muscle.
