He looked at me like I mattered.
Isla swipes at her cheeks angrily, furious with herself for crying, furious that she can feel the grief of a moment she never remembered.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she whispers.“None of it does.”
Callum shifts closer.Not touching.Just close enough that his presence steadies the air.
“No,” he agrees softly.“It doesn’t.”
Isla clutches the photograph to her chest, pressing its corners against her sternum like it can anchor her.Like proof can replace memory.
The castle presses around them, stone and silence and secrets, too solid, too old, too full of things that were never spoken.
And the kiss still hums in her blood.
That’s what terrifies her most.
Because she is not only unraveling in front of Callum, she isawareof him in a way she has never allowed herself to be aware of any man.She notices the way he watches her.The way his breathing changes when she cries.The way he looks at the photograph like he wants to destroy whoever made that moment end.
Isla squeezes her eyes shut.
This is not safe.
Nothing here is safe.
Not the past.
Not the truth.
Not Callum.
She draws a shaky breath and forces her voice steady.“If he felt that… then why?—”
Callum’s answer is quiet but firm.“Something happened.Something stole him away from your mother.Maybe it’s time she answered some questions.”
Isla opens her eyes and looks at him, the tears drying on her cheeks, anger building beneath the grief.
“My mother told me the story was finished,” she says.“End of story.He didn’t come back.”
Callum’s gaze hardens.“And yet…”
She holds up the photograph again, shaking slightly.“And yet.”
The room feels smaller.The locked door at their backs feels heavier.The shelves feel like they’re leaning in, waiting.
Isla stares at the photograph of Keir holding her.Staring down at her like she was something sacred.
Then she looks at Callum.His eyes are on her with an intensity that makes her breath catch again.
The past is between them.
The castle is between them.
And still—her body remembers his mouth.
“Fine,” she says, voice hoarse.“Then we keep looking.”
Callum nods.
