Ellie POV
The packhouse felt different without Felicity.
Of course, it wasn’t just her who was gone. Half the staff was sent away the same day. I was pretty sure Nolan didn’t sleep at all that night. Now, days later, I still wasn’t sure he’d slept much.
The packhouse was too quiet in some ways, too tense in others. The feeling of being watched, of being followed, was gone. But the absence wasn’t peace—it was the heavy silence after the chaos of a storm. We were all waiting to see the damage in the aftermath.
Nolan was unraveling.
He tried to hide it, but I saw the cracks. The way his hands balled into fists when warriors hesitated to follow his orders. The clipped, harsh tone he used with the kitchen staff when the food wasn’t ready fast enough.
The shadows under his eyes from nig
