Elara's POV
Mia was crying.
She wasn't crying for something she wanted, or because she'd been told no. This was quieter, ragged, the kind that comes when a child isn't sure she has the right to be this upset.
She was still in my arms, her face pressed into my shoulder. I could feel each breath she took, still uneven, still catching. The shock of the water was still working its way out of her system.
"I didn't do anything wrong," she said. Her voice was muffled against my shirt, but every word came through clear. "She wanted to hurt me. She was trying to—"
"Mia."
Orion's voice.
She went still in my arms. I felt it happen, the particular stillness of a child who's learned what a certain tone means. She was bracing herself.
I turned to look at him.
His expression had hardened into so
