AIDEN had barely slept, but he was still awake before Orion.

The room was frigid, the fire long gone cold. He crouched at the hearth—dry kindling first, then a few small logs—and coaxed the coals back to life with Ember, the flame catching, slow and steady, until the light reached across the room and thinned the darkness. He moved quietly through the space, every step muffled and measured so as not to stir the man asleep in his bed.