(Caius)
The link stayed between us for a few seconds longer before it faded into the background. Not gone. Just quiet enough that the room felt like ours again instead of something new pressing between us.
Isla didn’t look away from me after that.
She didn’t smile this time either.
That told me she wasn’t trying to play with the moment anymore.
She wanted the answer.
“Caius,” she said quietly.
I looked at her.
“Don’t use the link for this.”
That made something inside me still.
She held my gaze with both hands resting above the blanket now, no hesitation in her face. “I want you to answer me out loud.”
I understood then.
This wasn’t curiosity anymore.
Not only that.
This was her asking to be treated like someone who could hear the truth without being protected from it.
I turn
