The fire had burned low, casting the room in a soft, amber glow that seemed to hold its breath. The shadows danced on the stone walls, stretching and shrinking with each flicker of the dying flames. The silence was heavy, thick with the weight of everything I could not say.
Kaelen sat beside me on the window seat, his arm around my shoulders, and my head on his chest. His heartbeat was steady, a slow, reassuring rhythm that had carried me through so many nights of fear and doubt. His hand traced absent-minded patterns on my arm, a touch that was both comforting and distracting.
But tonight, even his presence could not ease the weight pressing down on my chest.
The secrets.
