Caim’s footsteps echo through the corridor, steady and rhythmic, and the sound seems to grow inside my head.
The stone floor is cold beneath my bare feet, seeping through the thin soles of my shoes.
The air smells damp, like old earth and candle smoke.
✧
I try to take a deep breath, but the air feels heavy in my chest.
Every inhale scrapes my throat raw.
My heart is out of sync, thudding too fast, too loud.
✧
“You were running from your husband, right?”
Caim’s voice breaks the silence, deep, low, carrying something I can’t define.
✧
The question hits me by surprise.
A knot tightens in my throat. I swallow hard before answering.
✧
“Yes… I was.”
✧
He lets out a long, deep sigh.
The tension spreads through the air like smoke.
I can feel the weight of his irritation, even wit
