It can't be

The predator inside Cal had already mentally attacked the place and torn it apart, but the worthy man Cal could only watch with dilated eyes and fantasize...

Liam moved slightly and brought the man out of his stupor.

Somehow, holding him in that embrace was less exciting than touching his arm.

What was to be done? Cal lightly placed his palm over the hand holding the railing and cursed mentally: «fuck!» It was as if he'd been struck by lightning. The gesture was quite intimate.

Liam couldn't believe it and didn't understand why Cal was acting like a March cat... did he... need a date and only Glinier was around? «Such a shame!»

He pulled his arm out and stepped aside.

«Uh, where are you going?!» flashed through Cal's head. He turned toward Liam and tried to guess his thoughts, but it was hard, they were usually thinking different things. Cal's heart was still thumping in his chest and he missed being touched.

Liam, on the other hand, missed explaining, and he was brave enough to ask:

«Listen... I wanted to ask you, are you seeing someone right now?»

Cal was taken aback. How could you think of such a thing, they're always busy building or doing things for the town.

«You know I'm not... and neither are you... You're not in love with some hottie from the Bread Market, are you?» He switched to joking, staring at his friend.

The moonlight filtered through the high windows and cast weird shadows on the floor.

«Is there anyone in mind?» Liam continued.

He wanted to make sure he had no reason to get his hopes up. Cal was surprised by Liam's questions. But, as always, he figured out how to make the best of it.

He approached the man and said carelessly.

"Yes, I like someone, but I haven't opened my heart yet."

Liam nodded understandingly and hurriedly looked away.

Just as he thought, Cal was busy.

"I must give up as soon as possible and forget all this nonsense. I'll feel worse if I can't get over Cal!"

He patted the railing.

«I think it's time to go home,» he turned sharply and almost ran out of the room.

Cal had no time to say anything and had only opened his mouth when the door on the landing had already closed noisily and he was alone.

«What?! How the hell did that even happen?! I just held his hand...and almost told him everything... Why is he so fast?! Goddamn it!» He kicked the stone wall as hard as he could.

Then leaned on it with his hands.

«Shit!»

«Aaaaahhhh!»

Liam ran across the bridge without looking back. He stopped for a moment, biting his lip until it hurt and catching his breath.

«Come to your senses, you idiot!»

He almost ran to the end of the bridge, so Cal could see his receding shadow. He chased after, but suddenly stopped. Someone had blocked Liam's path at the exit of the bridge.

Liam saw his uncle right in front of him and stood upright.

«Liam.» His uncle nodded.

«Uncle,» Liam said through his lips.

«We need to talk,» he and Liam hid from sight, depriving Cal of his last chance to set things straight.

He caught his breath in the middle of the bridge. Instead of chasing him, he returned to the factory and spent the night there.

In the morning, word got out that Liam Glinier had left town for good.

***

His uncle rarely appeared in Liam's life. Ever since they were children, their meetings had been rare but fateful. And so it was now.

Without further ado, a relative informed Liam that it was time to move to the next level, and he would become his uncle's apprentice.

Truth be told, Liam didn't know where his uncle lived, so he was confused.

«You've worked hard enough for this town. I'll leave trustworthy people here to carry on your work, but you're far more important than a bunch of city craftsmen.»

«No matter how hard you try here, you won't discover your purpose there.»

Liam listened to his uncle in silence, and he was sad. Why, at almost twenty-five years of age, could he still not have control of his life as he pleased?

His uncle looked at him intently.

«I hope you're not thinking seriously about that weaving whippersnapper?» Uncle snorted, showing disdain. «Forget him; your destiny is immeasurably greater and more important than his pathetic ambition to make all the money in the world!»

Uncle showed a startling awareness, and it sobered Liam.

«When shall we leave?» he asked.

«In the morning.»

«All right,» Liam sighed. It was useless to argue.

He got up, bowed, and turned toward the river before leaving for home. There was a factory on the other side, where the only window was lit.

He stared at it longingly. «If it's fate, I'll see you again,» he whispered, and the wind picked up his words and carried him to the other side.

***

A sharp gust of air swung open the windows in Cal's room. He got up to close them, and he thought he saw someone standing on the shore. He peered hard, but the man was very far away, and then he was gone. It made him feel cold and empty.

At dawn, Liam went to his parent's grave. He was used to coming here in moments of mental turmoil or need of advice. As the sun lazily picked up the hills and valleys from the night's embrace, Liam told his parents of his affairs.

He also mentioned that he had a special someone who didn't know how he felt. And that he might never see him again. If Liam's parents had heard this story, their hearts would have bled anew.

After asking for his blessing, Liam left to pack his things and before eight o'clock in the morning, they left town on horseback.

Feeling frustrated, Liam didn't think to leave Cal a message. But by evening, when he and his uncle finally made a stop at a hotel, he asked for some paper and wrote a short message to the director of the factory.

Without going into detail, he informed him that duty was calling him to follow his uncle and that, in the end, he did not know where he would live.

Liam was still confident that he would return home sometime later when his uncle deemed it appropriate.

He sincerely believed he would give details in another letter.

After sealing and paying double the price, Liam asked that the letter be delivered to Cal Xavier at **** as soon as possible.

After a few hours of sleep, they set off again.

Cal had been hiding from Liam all day, and generally avoided people. So he didn't know the shocking news yet.

As he continued to ponder his actions last night, he searched for a reason why Liam might have been so jumpy. Comparing Liam's character and his reaction to what he had told him, Cal realized!

There was no way Liam could accept the idea that the special person to Cal was himself! His natural modesty and insecurity would never have allowed Liam to allow himself the redoubtable idea that he was good enough for Cal.

Cal felt like an idiot for realizing this simple truth. All of his innuendos only hurt Liam. Thinking back to the night at Fourier Manor, Cal could have sworn he saw the same reaction.

Cal's feet carried him in search of his dim-witted friend. But when he arrived at the castle, he found no one. After he had gone around all the known places, he had to return home and languish in obscurity.

The next day Cal caught one of the guards and asked where young Mr. Glinier was. The man stared at him in surprise.

«Mr. Xavier, there's a new head in town from now on...»

Cal grabbed him by the shirt and shook him violently!

Other guards rushed to help his comrade, but when they saw that the outrage was the work of none other than the factory director and the people's benefactor, they decided to settle their differences peacefully.

«Mr. Xavier, don't get excited,» said the commander of the guards, «Mr. Glinier left the city the day before yesterday morning. It was a surprise for all of us. Wait a little while, perhaps he'll make himself known.»

Cal was no longer trying to shake the soul out of the occasional guard. He let him go and stared blankly at the men who were talking gibberish.

«How he left, where he went...»

The guards could only shrug their shoulders. Neither did the new head of the town.

The townspeople looked dejected, and everyone was discussing the news. A wave of fear and incomprehension swept over Cal. He hurried back to the house and began packing his things, telling him to saddle his horse. As he left town he met a messenger with a letter. It was only when he read the dry lines in Liam's hand that he believed Glinier had left him.

Holding the agitated horse with one hand, he clutched the letter with the other. A dreadful cold thought clutched his heart with a prickly hand. He had nowhere to go back to... he could only go forward... chasing after his Liam...

Staring off into the distance, Cal tried not to show weakness to a stronger opponent. He always seemed to be fighting his fate and defying the gods... Clutching the reins tighter, he mounted the saddle and raced forward.

He overtook the wind, running from the pain, chasing for answers.

Once at the inn from which Liam had written to him, Cal expended considerable resources to get the men to talk and learn that the two gentlemen had gone north, presumably to ***.

After changing horses, Cal went in pursuit again, but after spending a month, he never found anyone. All traces were cut off.

The only clue he had was the fact that Liam had been taken by his dead mother's sibling. The man remembered that he had seen many records of the Glinier family tree in the castle archives. Was it possible that he would find answers there?

The man went back and found that everything in town was still the same. His factory was working as it should, and the new head was a very friendly and hard-working man. After cleaning himself up and resting, Cal attacked the castle archives.

Among the unnecessary junk, he found several important archive records. One of them was about Liam's birth. Several times people with strange names in the form of numbers were mentioned: the seventh, the twelfth, the second.

By the way, the late Head was often referred to as 'the second. At first, Cal thought that he simply had the same name as his ancestor and was therefore considered second, but the more he encountered strange names, the more he distrusted his theory.

In one of the annals, the man found strange entries.

They concerned a whole list of people. Each name was labeled "maker" or "protector," and it turned out that Liam's father kept the records. The man twirled the strange notebook in his hands.

By chance, Cal found mention that the Head's wife had been an Elder since she was eighteen, and it was considered very honorable, though her older brother, the Fourth Elder had earned his appointment at sixteen.

The more he delved into the secrets of the Glinier family, the more he feared that he would not win this time.