HIS TO KEEP

e and Elise had learned someth

n't ju

calcu

rogram she couldn't crack. Even when he was polite, there was an edge. A distance. As if he was

be they

wasn't a

A quiet one. No

And the quiet, mundane a

-

had chan

section each morning-learning abo

d not be ignoran

names. Remembered them. Learned what days

not foolishly. But enough to remember that

Da

k

him staring

g to recognize wh

-

li

ed her in the h

rned.

light from his study cas

Private. With the Minist

"Do you wa

d at her

d you

repeated.

ant isn't in this dea

n I'll be there. Prof

ared

, softer now, "you don't have

epped

ell me how to feel in a

mething unreadable fl

r surprise,

ai

-

nated from each nook and cranny-crystal, velvet, floating waiters like ghosts. Elis

l who had trembled thro

someone

her she hadn'

is voice stayed steady. His hand lay at the

ench woman with curious eyes, lean

xpected," she said lo

the wedding,

"Then perhaps it w

-

ar, Damian did

qu

ssive tonight,"

r head. "I wasn

kno

pau

t made it i

oat tig

ke that and then r

answer i

he said slowly, "fee

yo

en li

ooked

ke I'm walking on gl

And you make me feel

-

ouse, Elise didn't

ed him int

but didn't

let anyone

ce I discovered how people

ying to lev

ing to unde

oser. "Is that

to the chair. "No

r w

s trapp

us

--

ick quiet, some unspok

g between them-words, lies

s face clicked int

the screen before he li

lia

dripped over her skin in

curtly into the receiver, th

it-the cha

adn't been there

s that?"

o his feet.

not an

ed at th

gs need an an

-

it

ast t

ulian-was etched wi

hing

-

id something she ne

rogated G

s Jul

the flicker of tension betwe

t in you

's in D

Julian Castell is not a name you use loos

hy

a ghost. One that r

-

ian was in his office. She knocked

up at he

thing yesterday,"

id no

li

is Ju

stood u

laying wi

me about

nd the desk,

don't sleep. He's

t more than

moment. "He betrayed me. Took something..

breath

loved

nce. "I would h

he cho

the lie h

"Is that why you agreed to m

y. "I married you becau

an?" Her voice broke

d not

n she believed h

're strong en

-

not cry

mind replaying it all-Julian, the woman Damian h

been

rib

d not excus

explai

ure if she wante

nted to run a

be

e ne

id know absolu

e woman who walked

would be tha

-