In the middle of the night, Eilika stirred awake because of her parched throat. She propped herself up on her elbows and reached for the silver water jar on the bedside table only to find it was empty.

With her half-lidded eyes, she slipped out of the room. The cottage was silent as she navigated the dim hallway toward the kitchen. After filling the jar and drinking the water, she went back to the bedroom.

As she crossed the living room, a shadow shifted near the hearth. Her heart leapt into her throat for a second, before she realized the silhouette belonged to Damian. He was slumped in the upholstered chair.

Eilika reached out to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Damian," she whispered, "what are you doing here at this hour?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

When he didn’t respond, Eilika stepped around the chair to face him. He was staring into the dying embers of the fireplace, his eyes devoid of warmth, replaced by an emotion she couldn’t read.

"Damian, say something," she pleaded, clutching the silver water jar against her chest.

"Leave," Damian said in a cold tone.

"Don’t you need to sleep?" Eilika asked, her brow furrowed in genuine concern.

"Did you not hear what I said?" Damian’s frustration bubbled over.

Eilika stood her ground, watching him for a long heartbeat. "What is wrong with you? What could have possibly made you this angry so suddenly?"

"Don’t annoy me, Eilika. I am in no mood for your questions," Damian snapped, refusing to meet her gaze. In the flickering shadows, the image of Liliana began to shimmer again in the periphery of his vision, and his heart hammered against his ribs.

"I am not going anywhere," Eilika declared with a quiet firmness, settling herself onto the sofa across from him. She lowered the silver jar onto the side table, but as she did, the moonlight caught the faint, glistening tracks on his face.

"Were you crying, Damian?" she whispered, feeling bewildered.

Damian flinched, his head snapping away to hide his face in the shadows. But Eilika, driven by an instinct she couldn’t suppress, stepped into his personal space. She reached out, her warm palms cupping his stubbled cheeks, forcing him to look up.

"What is happening? Why were you crying?" she pressed, her thumbs brushing against his cheeks. "Tell me. What is bothering you so deeply?"

The contact was too much. Damian’s hands shot up, grasping her wrists, yanking them away from his face. "Don’t force me to kick you out of this house," he hissed.

Eilika didn’t bother with his warning. Instead, she leaned in. "I dare you to kick me out, Damian. I am your wife. Do I not have even the slightest right to know what is hurting you? To know why you’re sitting here in this dark?"

"No! Fucking hell, no!" Damian roared, standing up finally.

Eilika recoiled at his voice. She took a staggering step back, her eyes wide with disbelief. The man who had defended her so fiercely in the market only hours ago had vanished, replaced by a stranger whose grief had curdled into an uncontrollable rage.

"Since you aren’t leaving, I have to," Damian rasped. He moved to brush past her, but Eilika’s fingers clamped around his arm.

"Why would you go out at this hour?" she demanded. "Are you seriously going to announce to everyone in this house that we are nothing more than strangers? I have let you dictate every term of our lives so far. You asked me not to be your wife, and I accepted that silence. You asked me to be a mother to Roman, and I gave him my whole heart. Don’t you think I deserve a single answer? How long do you intend to keep me in the dark?"

Damian spun around in a defensive rage. "Then don’t be my wife! Just leave my life entirely!" he shouted. "You expected love from a man as broken as I am? I will never love you, Eilika, no matter what you do, no matter how much you sacrifice. That is what Liliana wants."

It was the first time he had ever spoken his late wife’s name directly to her, and the sound of it seemed to drain the remaining warmth from the room.

Eilika recoiled as if he had struck her across the face. She let go of his arm, picked up the silver jar of water, and she went upstairs.

"Leave me," Damian whispered, still seeing Liliana in the room before slumping into the chair.

~~~~~

After the turmoil of the night, Eilika’s sleep had been a fractured thing. Every time she closed her eyes, the echo of Damian’s voice, spitting his late wife’s name, would jolt her awake. By the time it was dawn, she had given up on rest entirely.

After freshening up, she sought refuge in Roman’s room. She sat on the edge of the small bed, pulling her knees to her chest as she watched the boy sleep.

’I was a fool,’ she thought, the realization stinging more than the insults. ’I mistook his protection for affection. I thought we were building a future, but I was just weaving a dream that will never be fulfilled.’ Her gaze softened as she looked at Roman, her hand reaching out to gently caress his hair. ’I won’t die without his love. It is better to remain a stranger to him than to break myself trying to fix a man who doesn’t want to be healed.’

The door creaked, breaking the quiet. Damian stepped into the room, the last person she wanted to face.

"Take one more step forward, and I will kill you," Eilika said with cold fury.

Damian froze, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion. "What did you say?"

"Don’t start an argument here. Roman is sleeping," she snapped, refusing to even look at him.

Damian stared at her for a second. Without a word, he turned on his heel and stepped out, the door clicking shut behind him.

"Her tongue changes every other day," he muttered to the empty hallway, his annoyance masking the heavy pang of guilt in his chest. He remembered the venom of his words from the night before, how he had used Liliana as a shield to wound her. In that moment of madness, he hadn’t been himself, but the thought of explaining to her felt exhausting.

"Your Grace!"

Maurice’s urgent voice cut through his thoughts, making him halt.