The gallery felt different the moment Elara stepped inside, and the difference settled into her bones before she could even name it. The space was smaller than the last event, but it carried more weight. Soft light spread across the walls where paintings hung in careful silence, each piece drawing quiet attention. Conversations stayed low, controlled, almost delicate, yet beneath that calm surface was something sharper, something watchful. People did not stare the way they had before. They did not need to. Their awareness moved in subtler ways, in slowed gestures, in half turns, in the way voices dipped just slightly as she passed.
Elara paused near the entrance for a brief second, her fingers brushing lightly against the side of her dress as she took it all in. She could feel it already,
