***Aldrik***
I'd gone back to the inn after watching Silas knock on Cassius's door.
Forced myself to walk away, to maintain the discipline I'd just reclaimed, to stick to the plan of being patient and respectful even when every instinct screamed otherwise.
I'd made it back to my room, sat on the edge of the bed, and lasted approximately twenty minutes before the restlessness became unbearable.
The walls felt too close, the silence too loud, my mind kept circling back to that image, Cassius smiling at Silas in the doorway, that laugh I'd never earned, that ease I'd never been granted.
I told myself to stay put, to rest, to give Cassius the space he'd made very clear he wanted.
But by the time the sun had fully set and I could hear music drifting on the evening air from somewhere in the distance, I was already on my feet.
It's just a walk, I told myself, just getting out of this suffocating room, getting some air, proving my body was functional.
