The sun was beginning to set when Ana stepped out onto the porch of the old house. The breeze brought with it the smell of damp trees, of earth disturbed by the rain. Her heart was still pounding from her arrival, but now it was pounding for something else... for a presence she felt approaching from deep in the past.
She didn't hear him coming. She only saw him there, standing across the street, motionless like a memory that refuses to die.
Zane.
He was no longer the bright-eyed boy or the teenager of eternal promise. He had changed. His face showed lines that weren't there before, and his eyes, those that had once made her feel free, were veiled by years of searching, guilt... and darkness.
Ana stood still. Time seemed to suspend between them. And then, he crossed the street. He didn't run. He walked. As if each step was a confession.
-Ana..." he whispered, his voice breaking. I thought you were dead. For years, I thought you had been killed... that you had vanished from the world without a trace.
She swallowed. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know if there was still a language that could bind them together.
Zane moved a little closer. He held his hands at his sides, trembling.
-I looked all over for you. I talked to dangerous people, paid for information, got to Viktoria..." His voice trembled at the name. I got involved with her because I thought she could help me find you. I thought that, if I got close to the powerful, I would get to you.
Ana looked down. Viktoria. Once again, she wove her poisonous threads.
-Did you ali...aste with her? -Ana whispered.
-Not by choice. She used me. She promised me information. She swore you knew where I was..." Zane took a step closer, his voice growing more desperate. But I didn't know you were... trapped in her world. I didn't know he was hurting you. I swear I didn't know, Ana.
She closed her eyes. The pain in her chest was different. It wasn't like the one she felt with Lucian. It was softer, sadder. It was the wound of what could have been... and never was.
-Zane... I am no longer the same," she said at last, her voice low but steady. The Anne you loved no longer exists.
He wanted to answer, but she held up a hand.
-I lived through things I can't tell you. They broke me in ways you don't know. And yes, I thought of you many times. You were my hope for years. But time... time changes everything. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes for good.
Zane ducked his head. The shadow of what was poured over him like a bitter rain. But then he looked at her, with a tenderness that can only come from true love.
-Then I just want to know one thing," he said, his voice trembling. Are you happy?
Ana did not answer immediately. She looked up at the orange-tinted sky, feeling the wind tangle in her hair.
-I'm learning to be.
Zane smiled sadly. He nodded. And without another word, he turned away. He walked into the shade of the trees, where the past fades and the future has yet to be written.
Anne watched him disappear. She felt peace. And also a pang of nostalgia. Because some people are not meant to stay... only to show you how much you can resist.