Kael noticed it before anyone else did. At first, it was subtle. The kind of change that would have gone unnoticed if he wasn’t already too attuned to her presence.
Kaelira stopped coming to the balcony. Then she stopped responding immediately when he visited. Then, one evening, she didn’t come at all. Kael stood alone in the quiet corridor of the estate long after the servants had gone to bed, staring at the empty space where she usually appeared as if the absence itself might explain itself if he waited long enough.
It didn’t.
Behind him, Ronan approached carefully. “You’ve been standing there for twenty minutes.”
Kael didn’t look away. “She’s avoiding me.”
Ronan exhaled slowly. “Or she’s thinking.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Ronan studied him for a moment. “No. It isn’t.”
Silence
