Adrian did not want to leave the island.
If it were up to him, he would have stayed in the shadows, watching Lucien from a distance just to make sure he was safe.
That had been enough for him for years and he would have accepted it again if he had to.
But Silas was beside him, silent and unreadable as always. Adrian knew that silence too well.
It was the silence Silas used when he folded his pain so tightly that it stopped showing on his face. It was the silence that came right before something inside him cracked.
That was the real reason Adrian agreed to leave. Lucien would survive without them for a while, but Silas might not.
"Just for a while," Adrian said softly. Silas did not answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the island even after the ferry pulled away from shore.
Guilt weighed heavily on him. He had been the one who revealed everything to Lucien. If he had stayed quiet, the fragile balance they lived in would have remained untouched.
