You waited in the courtyard long after everyone else had gone. The silence settled heavily around you, carrying the slow, painful ache of realization. He was not coming.

So you headed for the place only he had ever let you see. The hidden passage behind the old tapestry, the narrow stairway curling up to Iago Tower, the quiet secret he trusted no one else with. Each step felt colder than the last, your disappointment following you like a second heartbeat.

When you reached the top of the stairs, the room glowed with scattered lamplight. Tools drifted around Isaac in a soft orbit, his focus fixed entirely on the machine beneath his hands. He looked distant, brilliant, lost in his world again.

A screwdriver slipped from the air and struck the floor. That small sound pulled his attention up to you.

The guilt in his eyes was instant, sharp and unhidden. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, a frown taking shape over his face.

"I..."