Chapter 21: The storm between us
The silence between them was louder than any war drum.
They had made camp in the ruins of an old cathedral, its stained-glass windows shattered and floors slick with moss and moonlight. The air was cold — not just from the approaching storm, but from the tension that clung to them like a second skin.
Lucien sat on the altar steps, hunched over, picking at his fingers. Cain leaned against a broken pillar, arms crossed, jaw locked. Ayden sat farther off, feet dangling from a cracked window ledge, staring into the dark horizon.
No one spoke.
Not at first.
Until Cain broke the silence with that familiar sharpness in his voice. "You never take anything seriously, Lucien."
Lucien didn't look up. "And you never stop acting like the weight of the world is yours alone."
That did it.
Cain pushed off the pillar and stormed toward him. "Because it is! If I don't take charge, who will? You? Ayden?"