Kaelen's POV
The memory crashed into me without warning, sweeping away the present like a tide.
Seventeen years old. That was when everything still seemed possible.
October had been unusually warm that year. The pool water retained its summer heat thanks to some modification Father had ordered the sentinels to make to the heating system. After he passed, I couldn't bring myself to fix that malfunction for nearly two years. Something about the lingering warmth felt like keeping a piece of him alive.
But this memory belonged to happier times. Father was still with us. I was still young enough to believe in my own invincibility, still foolish enough to think the world would bend to my will. This was one of those evenings when Genevieve would visit, drawn to the water like it called to something deep in her nature.
