They didn't talk about it.Not because there was nothing to say—there was everything to say, a whole universe of things that had shifted in the space between a single kiss—but because the morning arrived with its usual demands, and the house was already awake, and forty guests were waiting for breakfast, and the performance had to continue.Elijah understood this. He'd understood it from the beginning, the way Alexander's world operated on schedules and appearances, the way private moments were stolen rather than given. What had happened in the dark, in the golden light of early morning, belonged to them. But the daylight belonged to everyone else.He dressed in the bathroom, alone, standing in front of a mirror that was older than his parents' marriage, and looked at his own reflection.His lips were slightly swollen. His hair was a mess. And his eyes—his eyes looked different. Brighter, maybe. Or softer. The way you look when something has shifted inside you, when the tectonic plate
Last Updated : 2026-04-09 Read more