It started with silence.
Not absence.
Silence.
The kind of silence where something should be there — a voice, a breath, a heartbeat — but wasn't. Or maybe it was, but it wasn't reaching me.
And that was the problem.
Because I could feel her now.
Even when I didn't want to.
Even when we weren't in the same room.
I felt her in the back of my skull — pressure I couldn't explain.
I felt her in my chest, beneath the armor I didn't wear anymore.
I felt her in the way the air shifted every time she moved through it.
Like it recognized her.
Like I did.
I was in my office, the usual stack of war reports and alliance requests scattered in front of me. But I hadn't read a word in ten minutes.
Because her pulse was wrong.
Don't ask me how I knew it.
Don't ask me why it mattered.
But I could feel it.
Not racing. Not panicking.
Just… altered. Hushed. Heavy.
Like she'd heard something she didn't want to believe.
My hands clenched around the edge of the desk.
I should be stronger than this.
I've resisted temptation. Fury. Grief. Bloodlust. Even soulbond instincts.
But this… this was different.
This was the quiet, steady kind of madness.
The kind that didn't scream, but whispered.
Her heartbeat was like a second one echoing under my ribs.
And I was terrified of what would happen if it ever stopped.
I left my office without a word.
Didn't tell Kaleb. Didn't tell Max.
Didn't even think.
I moved on instinct.
Toward the east wing. Toward the kitchens.
I didn't know why I knew she was there.
But I did.
And I hated how easy it had become — this… this pull.
I turned the corner and saw her just as she stepped into the corridor, alone, head down, fingers brushing her pendant through the fabric of her dress.
She looked like a girl trying to hold her soul together with silk thread.
And I…
I forgot how to breathe.
She looked up.
Saw me.
Paused.
And in that pause, I felt it.
That thread between us, tugging tighter.
Dangerously tight.
Say something.
Turn around.
Walk away.
I did none of those things.
I just stood there, eyes locked with hers.
Until finally, I broke the silence.
Very softly.
"Did you feel it too?"
She didn't answer.
But she didn't have to.
Her eyes said everything.