The dorm hallway stretched endlessly under the flickering fluorescent lights, each step heavier than the last. Rayla’s shoulders ached as if she were carrying the weight of Elias’s words physically, her muscles coiled tight with unspoken tension. The silence of the empty corridor pressed against her eardrums, suffocating.
She fumbled with her keys, her fingers stiff and uncooperative. The lock clicked open, and she pushed inside, greeted by the dim glow of her fairy lights and the faint scent of vanilla from the candle Scarlet had left burning. The quiet of the room was oppressive, the air thick with the absence of sound.
Tell him his grandfather is proud.
The words echoed in her skull, a relentless drumbeat. She dropped her bag onto the floor with a thud and mechanically changed into h
