~ELARA'S POV~
The silence after Silas walked out hit me hardest. It was like the walls started creeping in slowly, pressing the air right out of my lungs. I just sat there in the total dark with my eyes still glued to the door, waiting for it to creak open.
Waiting for somebody—anybody—to barge in and laugh and say “gotcha, this was all a messed-up prank” and let me crawl back to my corner in the kitchen like none of it happened.
But nothing moved except the thin line of shadow under the door.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
My heart wouldn’t quit with that weird extra beat. I slapped my palm flat against my stomach, pressing hard like I could bully it into slowing down.
“Stop it,” I hissed at my own body. “Just… stop.”
I couldn’t sit here and rot. If I did, Kairos was going to stand up
