Elara's POV
I heard the laughter before I saw them.
Coming down the corridor the next morning, still carrying the warmth of the previous night somewhere beneath everything else, I turned the corner and found Freya, Nyx, and Leo clustered around one of the benches near the common room entrance.
Lyris was with them, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and that easy expression she wore, saying something that was making Freya grip Leo's arm to keep from falling over.
I slowed down without meaning to, watching for a second before any of them noticed me.
"She told him she was visiting her aunt," Lyris was saying, and there was a particular precision in how she delivered it, the timing of someone who knew exactly where the funny part was. "The aunt lives in the science block appar
