“Almost,” he said.“And I’m not done.”
They talked the way you did after something changed you—softly, honestly.About what still needed doing.About the traitor who had slipped through once and the cells they both knew were still out there.About the work waiting for them, the kind that didn’t make headlines but saved people anyway.
She turned her head on his chest.“Have you heard about what is happening with Sofía?”
He stilled for a fraction of a second.“Rafael took her off-grid this morning.It's safer until she’s ready to decide what comes next.He said he’d be in touch soon.”
Eliza closed her eyes, hope and worry braided tight in her ribs.“I want us to be able to help her.”
“We will,” he said without hesitation.“That’s what the Covenant does.We show up.We don’t disappear when it’s hard.”
She looked up at him.In the low light, his face held the same certainty he’d carried into every fight, every rescue—but now it was turned toward a future they were building together.
He brushed his thumb along her cheek.“There are vows people speak out loud,” he said quietly.“And there are the ones you live.I don’t need a ceremony to know what I’ve promised you.”
Eliza felt it settle between them, solid and sure.
His vow was silent.
It was constant.
And it was hers, as surely as she was his.
Epilogue
Sofía woke to the quiet.
Not the heavy, dangerous kind—the kind that comes before a door opens or a voice says your name—but the ordinary hush of a safe house at night.The small place near Portland was tucked between evergreens and shadow, the kind of location that didn’t exist unless you already knew where to look.The curtains were drawn.The lights were low.The world outside felt far away.
She lay still and listened.
In the living area, Rafael moved.
Not loudly.Not carelessly.Just enough that she could hear the soft shift of his boots across the floor, the muted clink of a mug being set down, the rustle of clothing as he shifted in a chair.He was doing it on purpose.Letting her know he was there.Letting the night stay human.
For the first time in weeks, her chest didn’t lock up at the sound.
