Salt Kiss – Episode 40
The gates of the Lyonesse opened after dark. Tristan drove into the secured courtyard with Isolde beside him and Mark waiting beneath the entrance lights.
Relief crossed Mark’s face when Tristan emerged unharmed. Then his attention shifted to Isolde, and the political future he had kept separate from desire became real.
“Welcome home,” Mark said.
“This has never been my home,” Isolde replied.
Mark accepted the correction. He thanked Tristan for completing the mission, but the formal words could not contain everything in his gaze.
“Her father’s security was compromised,” Tristan reported. “The attackers followed us through two safe locations. Someone had access to protected routes.”
“We will find them,” Mark said.
Isolde stepped beside Tristan as security staff approached. The instinctive movement was small, but Mark noticed.
His eyes moved between them, assessing the familiarity created by danger and shared nights on the road.
“Is there anything else I should know?” Mark asked Tristan.
The question carried two meanings. Tristan answered only the professional one. “She saved me during a PTSD episode. More than once.”
Mark’s expression tightened. “I see.”
Isolde refused to be treated as an object passed between them. “If you want to know what happened, ask me.”
Mark turned his full attention on his future bride. “Did my bodyguard cross a boundary?”
Tristan flinched at the possessive phrasing.
“No,” Isolde said. “He protected every boundary, including the ones I wished he would cross.”
The confession silenced the courtyard. Mark’s control became almost frightening in its stillness.
He dismissed the staff and told Isolde her rooms were ready. Then he faced Tristan alone. “You have one chance to tell me the truth about what happened between you.” Tristan remembered Mark’s demand for honesty and knew that silence would become its own betrayal.