to si

peacef

one had taken the world and muted it, pressed a finger to

sheer curtains, painting the walls in soft gray. For a second, I didn't re

he scent h

Smoke. Wi

i

came cras

onged to him. The room, too quiet and too perfect. The closet full of c

g to me n

My body felt heavy, but not sore. Not yet. Just

lace was

sion was s

et door was

clos

o

ase twisted l

was cool beneath the soft pile, grounding. I crossed the room slowly, w

ned

ll

l pe

g dist

. Like someone had bee

kly, heart hammeri

er, a tray h

o

it. A cup of som

eep. And yet here it was, placed

't tou

't tru

indows, parted the curtain

y, hidden by rows of trees. Past that

ort

ca

a door openin

mi

e down t

e window, pulse spiki

h

ft k

raps again

fr

't a

ock. Slowe

dry, with just the sli

s Is

sn't

ipped. Older, maybe. Sha

you dress," she said. "Your pr

a second. I just s

ered, quiet

pa

wait o

steps mo

steam from the cup had stopped

nst

ues

believed this

and long, and dark leggings. Modest. Safe. The kind of outfit I used to wear w

ed. I put them on with hands that shook. I didn't know if

o makeup. Just my face, pale and b

opened

ere woman in a dark skirt suit, her hair pull

t a

is

lowed

and expensive art. The floors muffled our footstep

andelier. Through another corridor

h

outside o

to me. "He'

ce, opened the door

sita

I stepped

de was not wh

bedroom. Or a throne roo

s a s

walls like soldiers. A fireplace crackli

behi

nc

aiting. W

lled to his elbows. No tie. No jacket. Just calm,

ed once on the d

over me, slow

el. Not

.. wa

sur

uzzle he hadn'

ce, smooth a

here,

move ri

is tone was smooth-like a p

here,

asking. He was telling me. And something in the way he

and tight, fighting against the urge to turn around and

ng. There was no softness, no warmth. Just cold calculation,

berated in the silence between us. The fire crackled faintly in the

voice barely a whisper but somehow lou

lly, I moved-slow, hesitant, every step f

ach a twisted knot of nerves. I was acutely aware of his ga

look him in the eye. Instead, I focused on the desk, the smooth woo

wed slightly, and he leaned forward just enough that I

word coming out cold, like

myself into the chair across from

a word, just studying me like I was some for

low and deliberate, every word laced

t now," he said, his eyes never leaving mine. "You're mi

, to fight, to reject everything he was saying. But another part of me-an in

voice softer but still as commanding as before, "but you will. An

t, suffocated by the words he was for

ng over a stack of papers, his eyes flick

, his gaze sharpening, like a predator zeroing in on its prey. "You will never quest

feel the weight of those rules pressing down on me, as

e felt thick in my mouth, my chest tight with the

teepled his fingers together in front of his face, watching me l

nce from you, Isla. No mi

of what would happen if I didn't. Th

, his eyes dark and unreadable, be

staking the underlying command in every syllable. "The terms are simple. You stay here.

n coming from his mouth. As if it was s

nce like a knife. I flinched, my pulse spiking again as

r, but the warning in it made my blood run cold. "You'll have your little freedoms-within

st inches from mine, his br

g to me n

mind, a haunting whispe

ied to speak, too terri

e again. The space between us felt like a chasm, but I knew I

deadly calm. "I'll always know where you are. I'll always kno

is footsteps so quiet against the floor that they seem

he left, unable to move, unable to

s hung in the air like

what I had got

thing with abso

s no esc