The room felt colder, emptier, after Leo vanished. He’d left a silence thick with questions, a void filled only by the faint hum of the mirror in the tower—a reminder that even his promises were as fleeting as his presence. I let out a slow breath, the weight of this endless game pressing down on me like an iron shackle. How many times would I be left with only shadows and whispers, while everyone else—Leo, Charles, even Alden—moved like pieces on a board I could barely glimpse?
I wrapped my arms around myself, staring at the spot where Leo had stood, willing his face to reappear, to give me some sign that he wasn’t abandoning me to navigate this alone. But he was gone, and I couldn’t let myself hope for what wasn’t there.
A creak broke the silence, a sound so foreign in this isolated co
