Two years after the fall of society, those who survived the bombs and fallout now live in scattered camps, struggling to rebuild in a fractured world. For Sage, marriage was the last thing on her mind in the face of high-stakes survival—until a rogue faction forced her hand. Tying herself to Dash, a quiet, unreadable man who lives in a makeshift shelter against a mountainside, is her only path to safety. Dash is as rugged and steady as the cliffs he calls home, and while Sage hides her pain behind a friendly face, his quiet warmth and surprising patience begin to chip away at her walls. Together, they settle into the rhythm of survival, where the days are filled with the demands of camp life, and the nights bring a quiet intimacy they hadn’t expected. In a broken world, they discover that even the smallest moments reveal the truest edges of who they are—and what they’re willing to hold on to. *Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge*