The house was bigger than she'd realized.
Not just wide, but deep—twisting with shadowed corridors and staircases that seemed built to mislead. Or to hide something.
Ariadne moved quietly, her hand brushing the wall for balance as she rounded another corner. Cassian's words still echoed in her mind. He won't trust you. Not until you prove you're worthy of whatever this is.
She didn't know what this was, what it all meant.
But one thing she was sure about was that it led her to him.
After the way he had looked at her—he looked at her like he was unraveling from the inside out. she couldn't ignore the pull.
So she'd asked.
She wasn't sure who she'd spoken to—maybe Theo. Or Cassian again. Her voice had come out quieter than expected, but clear:
"Where is he?"
They hadn't questioned her. No protests. No warnings. Just a look,measured and unreadable—and then, directions.
Now, she followed them. Narrow stairs. A hallway dimly lit by flickering sconces. A door, slightly ajar, waiting.
He was here.
She knew it before she even stepped inside.
The room was cold.
Not in temperature, exactly—but in presence. A stillness clung to the air like frost. The only light came from a tall, narrow window, spilling moonlight across the wooden floor.
He stood near it, back turned, silent.
Caelen.
She didn't say his name. The sound of it already rang too loud in her chest.
She stepped through the doorway, and the floor creaked faintly beneath her. His head tilted, just enough to show that he heard and was aware of her presence.
Then silence again.
She swallowed, her voice small but steady. "I wanted to see you."
He didn't respond. Didn't move.
"I had to know if…" she paused. "If I imagined everything. If it was only in my head."
Finally, he turned.
Slowly, deliberately.
The sight of him stole the breath from her lungs all over again. Tall, still, impossibly distant—and yet, his eyes were all deep black,not mismatched as she had seen in her dreams. In his eyes, there was something raw. Unsettled.
"You didn't imagine it," he said. His voice was quiet, precise. Like something dangerous.
She stepped closer. "Then why did you leave?"
He looked to the window, as if searching the night for answers.
"Because you're not supposed to be here," he said.
"I didn't mean to—"
"But you are." His tone cut across hers. Not angry. Just resigned.
He turned his full attention on her, and she felt it like gravity.
"I don't know who you are," he said. "Or how you did what you did. But you don't belong in this world. Not mine."
"I don't belong anywhere," she said before she could stop herself.
That made him pause.
Just for a second, the cold cracked.
"I think I've been looking for you," she said, softer now. "I just didn't know it until I saw you."
He didn't answer.
Instead, he studied her—like he was trying to see through her, into something hidden. Something that scared him..
"You have no idea what you're walking into," he said at last.
"Then show me."
That surprised him.
He didn't bother to hide it.
Silence stretched between them, thick with the weight of everything unsaid.
He took a step toward her. Not much, but enough for her to feel the cold around him shift, like a storm gathering strength.
Then his voice turned sharp, brittle with restrained force.
"You need to leave."
Ariadne blinked, surprised—but not shaken. "What?"
"Leave when it's morning." He still wouldn't look at her.
Something twisted in her chest. Still, she steadied her voice.
"No."
That made him turn. His eyes were like shards of old ice.
"This was a mistake," he said. "You being here. Everything you felt,it was nothing. It doesn't mean anything."
She stepped closer, unshaken. "You're lying."
"You—"
"No," she cut in, her voice steady. "You can pretend all you want, but I felt it. I feel it now. In my chest, in my bones. It's like gravity. And you did too. I saw it in your eyes. You're just afraid."
He didn't flinch. But something in him flickered. A small, splintering crack.
"I don't know what this is," she said, gentler now. "But I know it's real. You don't get to decide it isn't just because it terrifies you."
The silence that followed was tight. Breathless.
Caelen looked at her like her words might tip the world sideways.
Then he turned away again, jaw clenched.
"You're wrong," he said, but it didn't carry the weight of truth.
And still...
Ariadne stood her ground, steady and silent.
She knew this wasn't over.
He might not let her in yet.
But she wasn't going anywhere.