For the first time in what felt like forever, Stephen could breathe.

The days that followed his recovery were quiet, gentle. He stayed close to Jayce, who had silently taken it upon himself to be Stephen’s anchor. Jayce didn’t push, didn’t pry—he simply existed beside him. He spoke calmly, moved slowly, always with a softness in his tone that made Stephen feel like he wasn’t in danger anymore.

He’d catch Jayce watching him sometimes—checking his breathing, studying his posture, making sure he wasn’t drifting back into that cold, dark headspace he had barely escaped from. And when Stephen would go still, eyes fogged with memories too loud to silence, Jayce would nudge his arm or offer him a mug of something warm, quietly saying:

“Stay here. With us. You’re not going back.”

Stephen didn’t know how to respond. So most days, he just nodded.

He met Claudia Rose on a quiet afternoon. She waited for him beneath the stained glass corridor, her aura cloaked in roses and moonlight. There was no judgment in her eyes—only understanding. She knew who he was, what he had been forced to do, and what Claude tried to mold him into.

“You don’t need to keep running,” she told him gently. “You’re under my protection now. No one will find you here—not Serenity, not Claude, not anyone.”

Stephen stood in silence for a long while. His throat burned with words he didn’t know how to speak.

“But I hurt people,” he murmured.

Claudia stepped closer, her gaze steady. “Then start healing them. You’re not beyond redemption, Stephen. You never were.”

Surprisingly, even Tsukina—the girl he was once ordered to kill—treated him with a strange kindness. At first, she only offered polite glances. Then came quiet greetings. And eventually, casual small talk that turned into dry jokes and subtle smiles. She never brought up their history, never asked him to explain. She just… let him exist.

And that, to Stephen, was the kindest thing of all.

Calli was the one who truly brought him out of his shell. She bounced into his space with zero warning and zero fear, offering him food, dragging him into hallway card games, and giving him dumb nicknames like “broody boy.” She didn’t treat him like glass. She treated him like someone who deserved a second chance.

And slowly, Stephen began to believe her.

Claudia Rose gave them one rule: Stay within the castle. Do not leave the premises. The shadows are still hunting.

They obeyed.

Until that evening.

Stephen was helping Jayce sweep the stone path that curved through the castle’s front garden. The breeze tugged at his shirt, carrying the scent of wildflowers and distant rain. Laughter echoed faintly from a window nearby. It felt safe here. It felt… good.

But then something shifted.

Stephen froze mid-sweep. His eyes locked on a figure across the road beyond the front gates.