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“You were frightened,” I say. “You nearly drowned. You are cold and hurt, and I was holding you.”

A shadow crosses her face. “So you think it was just that?”

Wrong.

I hear it the moment she says it. “No,” I say, and the truth costs me more than I expect. “I think that’s why I should have stopped sooner.”

She swallows. “And why didn’t you?”

Because I wanted you the moment I saw you.

“Because I wanted to kiss you.”

Her breath catches. The words sit between us, simple and dangerous. Then a knock comes at the door.

Levin enters with his medical bag, and his gaze takes in Elara wrapped in a blanket, her wet hair, my open shirt, and the space between us that doesn’t look innocent.

He’s wise enough not to comment.

“I was told Ms. Bennett fell into the pool,” Levin says.

“She cannot swim,” I say.

Elara closes her eyes. “Excellent,” she mutters. “Let’s inform the press.”

Despite everything, my mouth almost curves.

Levin approaches the bed. “I need to examine you.”

She nods without looking at me.

I step toward the door. Every instinct in me resists leaving her there, but staying would be worse.

At the threshold, I turn back.

She’s sitting in the middle of the bed, blanket clutched to her chest, lips swollen from my mouth, eyes still dark with everything neither of us has said. For one second, I think about crossing the room again, but then think better of it.

The corridor is cool and quiet, and I stand there with water dripping from my clothes onto the floor, my hands curled at my sides.

I can still feel her mouth. Her thigh. The way she held on.

Then Anya’s voice rises from downstairs, small and frightened. “Where is Elle? Is she okay?”

Everything inside me hardens into focus. My daughter. The pool. The slippery stone. The little silver bracelet Anya had reached for before Elara pulled her away.

I take out my phone and call Sergei as I start down the stairs.

“She fell into the pool,” I say when he answers.

There’s a pause.

“Is Anya hurt?”

“No. Elara pulled her back before she could slip.”

Another pause.

Sergei understands before I finish. “What was Anya doing so close to the water?”