Emerald's head snapped up, eyes scanning the entrance, and there—emerging slowly from the shadows at the edge of the cave—was…
"Kieran?" she called in disbelief.
He paused just a few feet from her, his body half-lit by the moonlight trickling through the cave mouth. His eyes were fixed on hers in an intense and hard-to-read gaze.
She quickly ducked behind a large, jagged stone near the pool of water, her arms wrapping around herself. "What are you doing here?" she asked, voice sharp with panic.
Kieran didn't move. "I could ask you the same."
"How did you find me?"
"I was meeting with Darius," he said, voice calm, steady, like he was talking to a wounded animal. "Some rogues crossed near my territory. We were going over intel when I saw you leaving the estate. You were barefoot. In a rush. So I followed."
"You shouldn't have," she muttered, looking away.
There was a long pause.
Then the sound of rustling fabric.
