The room fell silent after Elias spoke. Not ordinary silence.
The kind that settled after something irreversible had already been placed between people, too heavy to take back and too devastating to ignore.
Kessler’s arms remained around me, one hand spread against the middle of my back while the other steadied my waist tightly enough to stop the trembling threatening to move through my body.
The contact calmed the pressure beneath my skin almost instantly. The awareness responded with quiet satisfaction. Emotional dependency reinforced. I shut my eyes briefly.
The voice no longer startled me the way it once had. That terrified me more than hearing it. Kessler felt the shift immediately. Fear brushed sharply through the synchronization before his hold tightened slightly.
“Mabel.” My n
