Aidan.
I left the study without another word to my brothers, the door closing behind me with a soft but decisive thud. The tension of the room clung to me even as I walked away, but my mind was already elsewhere, no, someone else.
Maria.
In my head, I had labeled her a problem. A complication. Something that required a solution before it spiraled out of control. That was the logic I kept feeding myself, the reason I used to justify every thought that circled back to her.
And yet, beneath all of that reasoning, there was something far more dangerous.
A pull.
It was subtle at first, like a quiet tug at the back of my chest, but with every step I took away from my brothers, it grew stronger. I needed to see her. Needed to know where she was. Needed to feel her presence, even if only from a distance. It made no sense, and that only irritated me more.
I changed direction abruptly and headed toward her room.
