Aria stood frozen on the cobblestone street, the evening mist curling around her ankles like hesitant fingers. Kaelan's words drifted through the air between them, soft but heavy enough to shift the world beneath her feet.
I think… I did too.
Her lungs forgot how to work.
He shouldn't have said it.She shouldn't have heard it.This, whatever this was—should not be happening.
Not here.Not to her.
But the truth hung there, trembling like a candle flame in a draft.
Aria swallowed hard.Kaelan, dreams are only dreams.
He looked at her with an ache she didn't understand.
Then why did it feel like remembering? he asked quietly.
Her breath shivered out of her.
She stepped back.
Not far.Just enough to keep from drowning.
And still, it wasn't far enough.
Shouts echoed from the mill yard. A wagon rattled past, iron wheels striking sparks.The scent of coal smoke and drying laundry mingled in the air.
But around them, an eerie stillness settled.
As if the world sensed that something fragile, something forbidden, was unfolding in the shadows.
Aria wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders. She wished the wool were thicker. Or warmer. Or strong enough to shield her from the way Kaelan was looking at her, like he was seeing her in layers she didn't show to anyone.
It was too much.Too close.Too dangerous.
She tore her gaze away.
You should go home, she whispered, forcing steadiness into her voice. People will talk.
I don't care about gossip.
I do.
His expression softened, the edges of his determination melting into something gentler.
Because of your job, he guessed.
Because of my heart, she almost said.
Instead she murmured, because of, everything.
He took a breath, slow, controlled, deliberate.
Aria, he said, I didn't come here to make things harder for you.
Then why are you here?
Her voice wasn't accusing.It was frightened.Quiet.Desperate for a truth she didn't want to hear.
Kaelan looked away for the first time, jaw tight, eyes shadowed with something he didn't have a name for.
I don't know, he admitted.
But he did.
He felt it in every heartbeat.
Her presence unsettled him. Pulled him. Unmoored him.
He crossed his arms as if trying to cage the feeling.I should keep my distance, he said softly. I know that.
Aria's fingers curled at her sides.
Then do it, she whispered.
Her voice wavered, just barely, but he heard it.
The plea beneath the words.
The conflict.The wanting.The fear.
Kaelan closed his eyes briefly, the confession scraping against his throat.
I'm trying, he murmured.I truly am.
She should turn away. Walk home. Forget him. Forget his voice. Forget that strange dream that tied itself to her ribs like a vine, but her feet wouldn't move, her heart wouldn't loosen. And for one terrible, tender moment, Aria let her guard slip just a fraction, just enough for the truth to flicker through.
I don't understand what's happening, she whispered.
Her voice was small, scared. A voice she hadn't used since childhood. A voice she didn't show anyone.
Kaelan's expression softened like melting frost.
Neither do I, he said, stepping closer, only half a step, but enough to feel the shift in the air.
But I think… His throat bobbed. I think it matters.
Aria's pulse stuttered.No, she breathed. It can't.
But even she heard the lie in her own words.
Another worker passed, muttering under her breath about "foolish girls and rich men who take what they please."
Aria flinched.
Kaelan didn't.
He didn't look away from her, didn't shame her, didn't treat her like something fragile or foolish.
He simply stood there, steady and present, as though her fear didn't scare him off, but drew him nearer.
Aria felt something unravel inside her.
Something old and familiar.
Something she didn't want to name.
She took a slow, shaky breath.
Kaelan, she said, voice trembling, whatever we think we feel, it can't lead anywhere.
He didn't argue. He didn't reach for her. He simply said the quietest, most dangerous words of all;
I know. And then, softer, but that doesn't stop it from feeling real.
Her heart clenched painfully.
She looked away again, not because she wanted to, but because if she held his gaze for one second longer, she feared she would break.
There were no confessions.No declarations.Nothing dramatic.
Just a pause. A breath. A moment suspended between them like the lingering echo of a memory neither remembered living.
Aria exhaled shakily and stepped back.
I have to go, she whispered.
Kaelan nodded, though his chest ached with the effort.
I won't follow.
The restraint in his voice, raw and sincere, wrapped around her more tightly than any admission would have.
She turned away.
But her steps were slow.
Heavy.
Full of the weight of something beginning that neither of them knew how to stop.
Kaelan watched her until the fog swallowed her silhouette.
Only then did he let his breath break.
Only then did he allow the truth to reach him:
He hadn't stayed for her safety…
He had stayed because walking away felt like tearing something vital out of his chest.