Callum stayed.
And called it home.
The pattern is so obvious, it makes him feel sick.
He’s been furious at Keir before, furious that a man who could write songs that cracked people open could still make choices that ruined lives.Furious that he could be brilliant and selfish in the same breath.Furious that he could care and still fail.
Now Callum understands something he didn’t want to.
It’s possible to love someone and still choose wrong.
It’s possible to believe you’re protecting someone when you’re really protecting yourself.
The door behind him creaks.
Callum turns, expecting no one, and finds Mrs.Grant, the housekeeper, standing at the threshold.Her gray hair is pinned tight, her expression polite but knowing.In this castle, nothing happens unnoticed for long.
“I knocked,” she says, as if that excuses the intrusion.
Callum drags a hand through his hair.“Sorry.I didn’t hear.”
Her gaze flicks to the bed, to the letter, to the papers.She doesn’t comment.But her eyes soften.
“She’s gone, then,” Mrs.Grant says quietly.
Callum swallows.“Yes.”
Mrs.Grant nods once, as if confirming what the castle already told her.“I thought she might.”
The bluntness stings.“You thought she’d leave?”
“I thought she’d do what she had to,” Mrs.Grant replies.Then, almost gently: “She’s got that look about her.The look of a woman who’s been told no too many times.”
Callum’s chest tightens.“I didn’t tell her no.”
Mrs.Grant’s eyes sharpen.“No.You just didn’t tell her yes.”
The words land hard and clean.
Callum doesn’t argue because he can’t.
Mrs.Grant steps fully into the room.“What will you do?”
He looks at the papers again, then back at her.His voice is raw.“I don’t know.”
She studies him.“That’s a lie.”
Callum flinches.
“Men always say they don’t know,” she continues, matter-of-fact.“What they mean is they know, but they’re afraid of the cost.”
Callum’s throat works.He hates how easily she sees through him.Maybe everyone sees through him, and he’s the last to admit it.
He looks at the castle around him, Keir’s room, Keir’s handwriting, Keir’s shadow in every corner.
The castle has saved him, yes.
It has also trapped him.
