The way his fingers barely shuddered when she touched them, or the way the heart monitor looked in sync with her voice—it felt like he was listening to her somehow.

But one quiet evening, as she lifted the covers to start her usual routine, her breath caught in her chest…

The nurse’s hands trembled as she pulled the blanket back from Vincent’s body. Her breath caught when her eyes landed on his arm—a tattoo, gleaming faintly under the light.

It was no ordinary design: a serpent coiled around a sword, encircled by strange markings she couldn’t decipher. But that wasn’t what froze her. She knew this tattoo.