I allowed a precise, cold smile to curve my lips. “Yes, you are correct. The display was impressive. Perhaps you should make such exhibitions a habit in the future.”
With that, I left, not sparing a backward glance.
As soon as the door of my apartment closed behind me, I caught Via’s voice floating faintly from the estate. “Kael, go. Apologize at once. Betty is clearly upset.”
“Do not concern yourself with her,” Kael replied, calm as ever. “She will recover in a few days.”
His words cut like blades to my chest. What had I done to earn such certainty from him?
I walked slowly through the quiet city streets under the early autumn sky. The cool breeze carried the scents of distant kitchens, wet asphalt, and the faint remnants of human warmth. Couples passed by, leaning close, laughing—an intimate display that tightened something inside me. Before Via entered his life, Kael and I had been like them—hands intertwined, hearts tethered by a bond I had thought unbreakable. So why had it unraveled so completely?