18AdieAdie wished Aura was by her side. Sadness crept along her skin, seeping into her, making every inch of her ache. Her head spun with the image of Michael falling away to ash.
As she and Samuel exited the Council Room, they paused for a moment. They heard the sound of his mother crying out in the hall. Adie reached out for him, but he stepped away from her touch.
“Come, let’s make our way to your chambers,” he said, without a glance at her.
She followed behind him.
As they entered her room she closed the door. “Samuel, it’s okay. If you need to talk—”
“I don’t,” he said quickly.
Adie shivered, unaccustomed to his cold tone. “Okay. We can just sit if you’d like.”
She took a spot on the far edge of her bed, and he sat with a space between them. “Look, I know what we saw was—”
“Wh
