Chapter 30: The Scent of War

Antoni P.O.V

Victoria is sitting underneath a fluffy white blanket, knees to chest, in one of the polished brown leather chairs in the library. The afternoon sunlight adds additional warmth, its orange rays covering her from behind as it drifts in through the black thick-framed window.

Antoni mirrors her position in an identical chair across the room. Behind him are black floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves, every nook and cranny filled with either a book, plant, or small object.

Comfortable silence floats in the air between them like the steam rising from the white mugs of tea on the black coffee table in the center of the room. That’s how it’s been after the night they spent sleeping next to each other a week and a half ago; a shift slowly turning their relationship into something both new and old.