Elena's POV
"You look like you didn't sleep."
Ruth set a cup of coffee on my desk before I'd even taken my coat off, studying me with the particular sharpness she reserved for mornings when she already suspected something had gone wrong the night before.
"I slept fine," I said, which was a lie generous enough to make my own conscience wince.
"Mm." She didn't push, which somehow felt worse than if she had. "Damian left early. Some kind of pack emergency, apparently, though he didn't say what."
The word *pack* landed strange in my ears, the way it always did whenever Ruth let it slip, quick and unguarded, before catching herself a bit too late. She turned back toward her own desk without elaborating, and I let it go, too tired to chase a thread I wasn't sure I had the strength to pull o
