Chapter 06: Caius

The garden has never been quiet to me.

It is only quiet for those with eyes—for those who can see the green grass, shimmering water on our fish pond and fountain, and leaves dancing at the mercy of the wind. But for me, the garden is always full of sound: the brush of air against leaves, the gentle settling of water,, the heavy footsteps of servants and gardeners constantly at work.

But this afternoon, there was another sound.

A voice.

And then another.

Until it became a line.

“Through every shadow, every storm…”

I stopped walking—Senior Maria did too. I knew I wasn’t the only one who heard it.

Something opened inside my chest. Something forced its way through the locks, the walls, the silence I had carefully built around myself—all because of a single line thrown into the air. A sound I had not heard for years, yet one my heart recognized long before my mind did.

My breathing grew heavy. I didn’t know why my hands were shaking, why the air felt different, why the heart that