Celeste didn't break down in some wild, obvious way—her control slipped in pieces, hidden in her breathing, in the tiny tightening of her mouth. Nobody would have noticed, not until things had already started unraveling beneath her collected face.
The palace’s corridors stayed quiet long after Nyra left. Kael sent the guards away—he barely needed words. That interruption killed the mood in the room, but honestly, the aftertaste lingered. Something new was in the air. Subtle, yeah, but permanent, like a sealed bottle that’s been opened for a second.
Kael didn’t chase Nyra. He didn’t check on Celeste either. For a moment, he just stood in that hallway, staring at where it all nearly changed, still calculating what he almost let happen.
Then, with no big announcement, he walked away. Not t
