Elowen's POV
For a moment I couldn't put a name to what I was feeling.
There was a bitter taste at the back of my throat, sharp and unpleasant, and the part of my chest that had been warm and full twenty minutes ago in the corridor felt like it had been quietly hollowed out.
I sat with my fork in my hand and looked at my plate, and the plate looked back, and the conversation went on around me in the easy, self-satisfied way of people who had just resolved a matter they'd been meaning to settle.
I hadn't even known they were close enough for this, and somehow the table had gone from pleasantries to engagement dates as though it were a matter of scheduling.
I set my fork down and picked it up and set it down again, made myself eat two more bites, then gave up because my stomach had deci
