Chapter 1024 – Lux's Doubt
She did not speak.
There was something tender in the practicality of it.
Just food lifted to his mouth while he sat frozen in thought, ensuring the machine of him did not run without fuel.
Lux accepted every bite.
Sometimes his jaw slowed, as if his mind had gone too far away and his body forgot what chewing was supposed to do.
Naomi waited each time.
Patient.
Calm.
Then offered the next bite.
Aela watched with deep, quiet fascination.
In the shrine, care had been a memory.
The king's world had taught her that power took. That contracts chained. That someone stronger could smile and call it protection while draining your life through ancient clauses.
Here, power looked different.
No one bowed or begged.
They cared like people who had the right to interfere.
Aela whispered, almost to herself, "This is strange."
Ely smiled faintly. "Yes."
"Good strange."
