Missing puzzle
700 Words
CHAPTER SIX
The hallway outside her room felt quieter than before.
Not peaceful.
Just… reined in.
The building felt different when Ellora wasn’t alone.
Less suffocating.
Not because it was safer, but because it wasn’t entirely controlled anymore.
They moved through the lower corridors carefully.
Or rather, Ellora moved carefully.
Isabella moved like the concept didn’t apply to her.
“You do realize this is exactly how people get killed in movies, right?” she whispered.
Ellora didn’t look at her.
“You can leave.”
“Not happening.”
“Also, if we die, I’m haunting you.”
She made a face at her.
Ellora ignored her.
But something in her chest eased slightly.
They reached the door.
The same one, she had been in earlier in the day
The guards change at the hour. We have minutes.” She whispers to Isabella
“Well, that’s on you”
Ellora pushed the door open.
He was there.
Isabella walked beside her, her usual ease replaced with something sharper.
More alert.
“Oh, damn you were not joking” she whispered as they stepped in.
Ellora kept her eyes forward.
“No.”
Something shifted in her chest.
Not fear.
Not doubt.
Recognition pressing against something she couldn’t fully access.
He was standing there like he did when she was here earlier, like that had become a habit, just
Standing.
Waiting.
And the moment he saw her
something changed.
Not surprise.
Not confusion.
Awareness.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.”Again”
His voice was steady.
But it wasn’t the same as before.
Ellora stepped in.
Isabella followed, slower this time.
Taking everything in.
“Oh,” she murmured.
“So this is what you meant.”
He didn’t look at her.
Not even once.
His focus stayed on Ellora.
“You shouldn’t have brought someone,” he said.
Ellora ignored that.
Because something had already started happening.
Not around her.
Inside her.
She took another step closer.
And then
it hit.
A flash. Faint music.
Not this place.
Not these walls.
Ellora inhaled sharply.
The image didn’t vanish immediately this time.
It stretched.
Laughter.Low.Familiar.
Her gaze sharpened on him.
“You’re lying,” she said quietly.
“No”he replied.
Too smooth. Too collected
Ellora shook her head slightly.
“Yes.”
Her voice didn’t rise.
But it changed.
“You know me.”
Silence followed.
“I’m not doing this with you” he stated.
Isabella glanced between them.
“Okay, I feel like I walked into the middle of something, I’m not supposed to” she muttered.
Ellora barely heard her.
Because another fragment surfaced.
Clearer now.
A hand.
His.
Not distant. Not restrained like he is here.
Warm.
Ellora stepped forward again.
This time
he didn’t move.
Didn’t step back.
Didn’t stop her.
That was the first answer.
“You remember,” she said.
Not a question.
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Ellora—”
Her name.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Isabella frowned.
“You didn’t say he knew your name.”
Ellora didn’t respond.
Because something inside her had just shifted.
Not confusion.
Alignment.
“How do you know her name?” Isabella asked.
He didn’t answer.
Didn’t look away.
Ellora took another step closer.
Now
there was no space between them worth mentioning.
And this time
the memory didn’t blur.
It pressed forward.
A room.
Not this one.
Dim.
Warm.
Not controlled like this one.
Her breath hitched.
Because she could feel it now.
Not just see it.
Close proximity.
Shared air.
A moment that hadn’t stayed in the past the way it should have.
“You remember me,” she said again.
A beat passed.
His voice came lower this time.
“Not in the way you want me to”
The word landed heavier than anything else so far.
Isabella went still.
“…Okay,” she said slowly.
“Now I definitely need context.”
But Ellora didn’t move.
Didn’t look away.
Because now
she was right at the edge of it.
The night.
The moment.
The truth trying to break through.
And this time
she didn’t step back.
She stepped closer.
This time ready to risk it all.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD