ELI'S POV
Layla came back from the ridge an hour ago looking like something had settled inside her. Not lighter - steadier. Like she'd made a decision out there and brought it home.
I know because I was in the common room when the side door opened, and I know the sound of her footsteps the way I know the weight of a pencil. She walked past without seeing me in the dark, and the moonlight caught her jaw at the angle I've drawn a hundred times.
I'm in the kitchen now. 3 AM. Slicing a lemon.
She told me once - at Brandon's barbecue, years ago, hair down, ankles crossed on the arm of a lawn chair - that she liked lemon in her water. I've been putting a slice in the glass I leave outside her door ever since. Even when she was married and gone. I'd stand in this same kitchen with the knife i
