CASSIAN
The air between us grew thick. It was a quiet confession, the kind of thing you say by accident when you're too tired to keep up the act.
It was too specific to be about travel or moving to a new city. It was too honest to be ignored. It sat there in the moonlight, changing everything.
Julian didn't look the way I expected. He didn't look shocked or upset.
He looked like someone who had been holding a secret for a very long time and had just heard someone else say it first. It was complicated.
It was the look of two people who had been careful with their feelings for years, only to have them spill out all at once.
We stood there in the garden, the moon casting our long shadows on the grass. Neither of us said anything else for a long time.
"…Okay," Julian finally whispered. It was a small word, but it felt huge. "Okay."
Leaving the estate at night was a game of timing. The grounds were large, but the guards were predictable.
