I felt a pang in my chest at his words. “It’s fine, I mean…I had Maddie. Besides, I’m feeling … better, as of late.” I said, feeling a little awkward.
For a moment we didn’t talk and the silence seemed loaded. I breathed in the scent of the flowers around me and waited for Caelen to get up the courage to say whatever it was he wanted to say.
“I’m really sorry,” he blurted out.
I stopped and turned to him. “For what?”
“For the other day. Breaking your necklace. I didn’t realise it meant that much to you – I’m just sorry.”
I shook my head. “It’s okay. It was my fault.” I sighed.
“Ellie?”
I tensed. “You’ve called me that before.”
He flushed. “It’s a habit. It’s how I always knew you, before. I’ll try to stop—if you’d like.”
“It’s okay,” I said after a pause. “It’s not the worst thing you could call me.”
The tension between us settled heavy in the silence that followed.
We walked along the path for a while without speaking.
I was the one who broke it.
“I feel like I should explain my reaction. That necklace… it was given to me by a friend. He died.”
Caelen exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry, Ellie.”
I offered a half-smile. “Like I said, it’s okay. It just—it threw me. Coming here has been... a lot.”
He nodded, glancing sideways at me. “Have you had any more memories? About this place?”
“Some. They flicker in and out.” I tugged on the hem of my tunic, fidgeting.
“Do you remember…” he hesitated, then grimaced. “Me?”
“Bits and pieces,” I admitted. “There was a game… I think. I used to hide in the castle and you’d come find me.”
Caelen lit up. “Hide and Seek. We played that all the time.”
“I think I liked one particular wing, but I can’t remember it now…”
“Your dad’s office was in the west wing,” Caelen said softly. “It burned down in the fire.” He gestured toward the boarded-up stretch of ruined stone at the far end of the gardens.
“Oh.” I stared at it. “His office was there?”
“That, and the private quarters of the royal family.”
“It never got rebuilt?”
“There wasn’t much point. Queen Syrena moved to the other side of the castle, and… no one else was really here. For years.”
I thought back to the dream.The little mouse. The shadows. The cat.
“Did nothing survive?” I asked.
“Not that I know of. But I never really checked,” he admitted. “I haven’t been back there in a long time.”
