Summary:

When Ilya set his blades on the freshly surfaced sheet of the Bell Centre at the feet of mostly empty seats, he could breathe for the first time in what felt like weeks. Everything still seemed louder than it had been before he’d been called back to Moscow, but it fell away with the familiar motions. The equally familiar smell of well-used hockey equipment, the reassuring tightness of his gear – forget breathing; Ilya felt like he was waking up from a nightmare.

It was bliss.

And then the second period started and the nightmare came crashing back down.

---

Following his father’s funeral, Ilya’s senses go haywire and his longing for Hollander intensifies. But Ilya has a career to think of, which has no space for any of that. Unfortunately, fate has other ideas for him …