Elira found him the next day in the outer courtyard, where the ground itself bore scars of old battles.
Kael stood alone, his gaze fixed on nothing and everything at once.
"You saw it," she said.
He did not turn immediately, but the stillness in his posture changed.
"What do you believe you saw?" he asked.
Elira stepped closer, ignoring the way the bond reacted to proximity. "A memory. Yours."
A pause.
Then he faced her.
There was no denial in his expression. No surprise.
Only quiet acknowledgement.
"You should not have access to that," he said.
"And yet I do."
The wind shifted between them, carrying ash across the stone.
"You were there," Elira continued, her voice steady despite the unease building beneath it. "Who was she?"
Kael's gaze darkened slightly.
"Someone who believed she understood the cost of defiance," he replied.
"And did she?"
A faint, almost imperceptible tension crossed his features.
"No."
Elira studied him carefully.
"For someone who claims not to care," she said softly, "you remember her very clearly."
Kael's voice lowered.
"I remember everything."