Caelen didn't walk through the door.
He materialized.
One moment, the air in the room was still, the next, it rippled with cold as his form solidified near the tall windows overlooking the gate.
He said nothing.
Did nothing.
Just stood there, arms folded behind his back, face carved from frost and shadow, eyes fixed on the gate and the girl who hadn't moved from it.
Ariadne.
She stood there like she belonged to the silence, defying the world with nothing but her presence.
Caelen narrowed his eyes.
Why won't she leave?
Behind him, the others entered one by one. Theo first, silent for once. Cassian trailing, bristling with barely restrained questions. Alec last, always quiet, always watching.
"Seriously?" Cassian was the first to break the quiet. "You're just going to ignore the fact she broke through our wards? That she found this place? That she stood there and looked at you like—"
"Don't," Caelen cut in, voice sharp as the wind outside.
Cassian's mouth clicked shut.
Theo stepped forward, voice low. "She's still out there."
"I know."
"She's waiting."
"I know."
"And?"
Caelen's eyes didn't waver. "She'll leave."
There was no certainty in the words, just the weary echo of someone trying to convince himself.
"She's not going to leave," Theo said. "You know that."
Caelen didn't answer. The truth was pressing too close to the surface, and saying it out loud might make it real.
Theo looked at him carefully. "You felt it too, didn't you?"
Caelen said nothing.
Alec, leaning against the wall, spoke at last. "If she's the one, you won't be able to ignore it Caelen. This isn't something you can suppress"
"She's not the one," he snapped, a flicker of power humming beneath his skin. The fire in the hearth hissed as though afraid of him.
"She shouldn't have found this place," Caelen said quietly, almost to himself. "No human should've been able to."
"And yet she did," Theo replied. "Which means this isn't a coincidence."
"No one does that. Not unless they're tied to something deeper than this plane." Cassian said gently
Still, Caelen said nothing.
But his knuckles whitened behind his back.
Outside, the girl hadn't moved.
She stood at the gate like she'd etched herself into the earth. Not demanding. Not weeping. Just… waiting.
He watched as she shifted for the first time—just slightly—unfolding her arms, brushing her fingers along the gate. She leaned forward like she might speak. Like she was searching for a presence she could sense but not see.
The pull twisted in his chest again, maddening in its persistence.
He hated it.
Hated the vulnerability it demanded. Hated the hope it sparked.
"She's a mistake," Caelen muttered more to himself.
"No," Alec said, gaze unwavering. "She's the start of something. Whether you like it or not."
"She's going to keep coming back," Theo said softly. "Even if she leaves now, she'll return. That's what they do when they're meant."
The fire flickered.
Outside, the wind howled.
Caelen—ancient, powerful, untouchable—did nothing.
He just watched.
And for the first time in centuries, he felt completely unsure.