Elara's POV
Liam walked in the way he did everything — without announcing himself, without filling the space before he'd assessed it.
He looked at the room once. The spare bed with its tired mattress, the coat folded on the chair, the burner on the bed beside me. Yesterday's clothes. Dara hovering in the doorway behind him with the expression of someone who had decided her job right now was to be invisible.
He sat down on the chair in the corner — moved the coat first, set it carefully on the edge of the bed — and looked at me.
He didn't say anything.
I appreciated that more than I would have admitted out loud.
"You’ll have to excuse the appearance.” I started, then looked him in the eye. “I was kidnapped last night,"
He didn’t give any reaction.
"Dara got me out. We've been her
