[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: The Deathless Fortress]
"She really was cute, huh?"
Alexander said it with the same dreamy half-smile he'd been wearing for the last several minutes, as though replaying Ella's startled shriek on an endless loop inside his head.
Ivan didn't even bother looking up from the talisman. "Alexander, this is the sixth time you've said that."
"Six?" Alexander blinked, counting on his fingers as if confirming the number mattered. "You can't blame me. You saw her. The same girl who looks like she'd stab a man for breathing too loud jumping at a rat? That's gold."
Ivan exhaled through his nose, long and resigned. They were perched in what remained of a hallway—if it could still be called that—one wall blown out entirely, the other leaning like it was reconsidering its existence. Robert had left to take another route, so for now it was only him and Alexander, waiting for Ella's signal.
Whatever that was supposed to look like.
