#Chapter 53: Redemption Tour

Emily The ride back from Silverroot Sanctuary was quiet. I sat beside Logan in the backseat, tucked into the far corner with my coat draped across my lap and fingers curled around a cooling paper cup of herbal tea. The scent was faintly sweet—lavender and something earthy I couldn’t name—and it lingered in the small space between us. Outside the window, the woods rolled past in streaks of deep green and fading gold. I let my eyes follow them, but I could feel him even when I didn’t look. His presence was weighty, certain, and too close for me to pretend I didn’t notice. At one point, the road curved, and the shift in momentum made our shoulders brush. I didn’t move away. Neither did he. I told myself it didn’t have to mean anything. That proximity was not intimacy. That we were only sitting like this because we’d agreed to make a public appearance, and now it was done. But my body didn’t believe me. It remembered the way Logan had stood beside me while we’d walked the