Chapter 23
Before Her Kaia couldn’t breathe for a second. The photograph trembled slightly between her fingers while the sound of rain hitting the roof overhead blurred into distant static in her ears. She stared at the image, unable to look away from the unmistakable figure standing beside Mira. Rowan looked younger. Not dramatically younger, but softer somehow. Less guarded. His arm rested loosely across Mira’s shoulders while she laughed at something outside the frame, both of them caught in the middle of a moment that looked real enough to hurt. Happy. Kaia swallowed hard. The sight of him smiling like that felt strangely intimate, like she’d stumbled across a version of Rowan no one else was supposed to see anymore. Behind her, the room remained completely silent. No one tried to explai
- Writer
