Pippa left not long after, once Marcus's sword had been carefully wrapped and secured. He helped her carry it out, placing it gently in the back of her car.
She turned to him then pulled him into a brief embrace. "Take care," she said. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help."
"You have done more than enough," Marcus replied, his voice steady. "I am in your debt, and your father's."
She smiled faintly at that, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
Then she looked at me, flashing me an apologetic look.
"I'll text you if I hear anything," she said quietly.
I nodded.
A moment later, she was gone. Her car disappearing down the road, taking with it the last sense of normalcy I had left.
"You're fortunate to have a friend like her," Victoria murmured beside me, watching the empty street for a second longer before walking down the street.
I followed, hugging my arms to my stomach as we walked.
"Her father is...well regarded in this field," she added, glancing toward Marcus. "Without his influence, I doubt that sword would have ever made it into your hands again."
Marcus caught up with us just as Victoria reached for the driver's door.
"Come," she said, unlocking the car with a soft click. "We should not linger out here."
I headed straight for the backseat, climbing in before Marcus could say a word.
For a moment, he lingered by the door, as if considering joining me. The hesitation was brief, but I caught it. Then, with a quiet restraint that only made my chest tighten further, he took the passenger seat instead.
The drive to the Roman site passed in a blur.
Victoria deliberately spoke in Latin the entire way. A language she knew I couldn't follow.
Marcus answered her with ease, his tone calm, almost casual. Every so often, he would glance back at me, making an effort to draw me into the conversation, but I kept my responses short, offering only what was necessary before retreating into silence and letting Victoria carry on.
If I had told her that there was nothing going on between us, then it should mean nothing.
I clung to that.
Even when something sat heavy and wrong in my chest, when everything instinct in me screamed to run, to put distance between myself and whatever this had become.
The ruins were...beautiful.
Fragments of old Roman columns lay scattered across the grass, broken stone and worn flooring half-buried beneath time. Beyond them stretched an endless sweep of green, quiet and untouched.
Once, this had been a temple, a place of reverence, of devotion. Now it stood in silence, reduced to remnants, its meaning lingering only in what was left behind.
Victoria and Marcus walked ahead of me.
I couldn't see their faces, but there was something in the way they moved. Slower, more deliberate, careful. As though each step carried weight. As though this place still belonged to them in a way it never could to me.
Victoria knelt beside one of the larger stones, pressing her palm against its surface. Her eyes then slipped shut as she murmured something under her breath. Latin, soft and reverent, like a prayer meant only for the past.
I stopped a few steps behind them, feeling out of place.
This wasn't my world. I had no claim in it, no connection to these ruins. These stones, these echoes of something long gone. Even standing here felt wrong, as though I had stepped into something sacred without permission.
Like I was nothing more than an outsider, trying to convince myself that I belonged in a story that was never meant for me.
The wind brushed through my hair as I trailed my fingers along the surface of an ancient stone, wandering toward the quieter edge of the site. I needed the distance. The space. Somewhere to steady the noise in my chest.
"Elena."
His voice carried easily across the open field.
I turned.
Marcus was making his way toward me. He was dressed in a long-sleeved blue shirt, buttoned neatly and a dark coat thrown over it. It softened him, somehow. Made him look...almost like he belonged here. Almost.
My chest tightened at the sight.
"What is it?" I asked, keeping my tone even.
"I would speak with you," he said.
There was something in the firm way he said it.
I forced a small smile. "Well, you found me."
"I was seeking for you."
The words landed heavier than they should have.
A beat passed between us.
"I would know why you have withdrawn from me," he said.
Straightforward, as always.
"Marcus," I exhaled, glancing away for a moment, "you've already noticed I'm not exactly...talkative."
"No," he said, his voice quieter now, more measured. "But this is not the same."
I felt him step closer.
Not enough to touch, but enough that I could feel him there.
"Your silence now," he continued, "it is deliberate."
My fingers curled slightly against the stone.
"Is it Victoria?" he asked. "Does her presence trouble you?"
I let out a soft breath, something caught between a laugh and a sigh. "You're overthinking it," I said lightly, though it didn't quite land.
"Am I?"
Another step closer.
"Because I have seen how you look away," he murmured. "How you place distance where there was none before."
My pulse quickened.
"That is not nothing."
I swallowed.
"It's just easier this way," I said finally, my voice quieter than before.
"For whom?" he asked, those dark eyes searching.
I didn't answer.
"Elena—"
"Marcus!" Victoria's voice cut through the moment from across the ruins.
We both turned to find her standing a distance away, near what remained a collapsed column, one hand raised slightly as she beckoned him over.
"You should come see this," she called. "I believe it is something you might find...familiar."
Marcus didn't move.
I could feel it, the hesitation.
The way his attention lingered on me, like he was unwilling to leave things as they were.
His jaw tightened with indecision.
"Go," I said quietly, forcing the word out before I could think better of it.
His gaze flickered back to mine. "We are not finished—"
"You should see what she found," I cut in, softer now, but no less firm. "It might help you."
A beat passed and he hasn't moved.
Then gently, I added, "I want some time alone anyway."
Something in his expression shifted. It was subtle, restrained. Not quite agreement, but not refusal either.
Finally he gave a single nod. "Very well."
And just like that, he turned, striding back toward Victoria.
I watched him, watched the distance between us grow. Only when he was far enough did I let out the breath I was holding.
Then I turned.
If I kept walking along the edge of the site, I could circle back toward the parking lot. I could sit in one of those benches for awhile. Away from them. Maybe just...think. Or try not to, I don't know.
The wind picked up slightly as I moved, brushing against my skin, carrying the faint scent of earth and old stone.
I didn't hear him. Didn't even sense it.
Not until a hand clamped over my mouth.
My breath hitched, a muffled cry trapped against a rough palm as I was yanked backward, my body slamming against solid.
Panic surged instantly, sharp and blinding.
Another arm locked around me, pinning mine to my sides.
"I've got you now," a voice hissed against my ear.
Cold. Familiar.
Menacing.
Before the darkness swallowed everything.