SWEET SIZZLING POWER

"Some tides are not meant to turn back, and what the sea claims, it keeps and love, once bound in stars and salt, does not unweave."

I did not notice the moment they left, Ysara, Fenris, Tharion all gone like mist drawn back into the trees, quiet as falling dusk. I only realized it when the silence deepened, when the air shifted, and it was just us. He stood still in the soft firelight, arms around himself, like he did not know what to do with them. Like he was trying to hold himself together. His gaze had not left me, but it flickered like a flame in the wind, uncertain, questioning, scared.

I took a step toward him, and he did not move.

"Caelan," I said softly, "look at me."