The silence after Mara’s departure was like a second storm.....this one colder, more dangerous.
I sat motionless beneath the now crumpled sheets, my skin still tingling from Aiden’s touch, but my heart frozen in a dread I couldn’t explain.
He hadn’t answered me.
That wasn’t like him.
I pulled the sheet around myself, suddenly feeling exposed in more ways than one.
“Aiden,” I said, my voice low. “What secret is she talking about?”
He didn’t look up. His hands were still gripping his hair, knuckles white with tension.
The muscles in his back were clenched, and his breath came in short, shallow bursts... like the truth was something too heavy to let go of.
I swung my legs off the bed and stood. The marble floor sent a jolt of cold through my bare feet, grounding me in a moment that w
