Elara POV
The meeting didn’t immediately come to an end. It unfolded and unraveled slowly and deliberately.
Like no one in that room wanted to be the first to stand and admit that a decision had been made that none of them were fully comfortable with, and yet one by one, the elders began to rise, their voices lowering into smaller conversations as they moved toward the doors, the tension easing just enough to breathe but not enough to disappear.
It slowed, like it always did
I stayed where I was.
Not because I didn’t know what to do next, but because my body hadn’t quite caught up to everything that had just happened, and the quiet hum under my skin hadn’t faded, it had only settled, like something waiting instead of reacting.
Kael didn’t leave.
He stood beside me as the room e
