Chapter 117

• KELILAH'S POV
• The air was thick with unspoken emotions as Rita trudged through the forest path, her face cast in shadows despite the silver light of the moon that filtered through the canopy above. I floated beside her, unseen, my presence as silent as the wind. Her sadness was like a storm cloud clinging to her every step, and Caleb—poor, torn Caleb—walked alongside her, his expression a complex tangle of guilt and longing.
• He was trying. I could hear his heart hammering with regret, his mind racing to find the right words, the right gesture, anything that might mend the fracture between them before they reached the cottage—before Selena found out he had upset her daughter.