The living room had quieted after Millarca left.
She'd gone without announcement, which was consistent. She'd also gone without anyone trying to stop her, which was consistent with how everyone in the room had assessed the situation and concluded that stopping Millarca Von Karnstein from going wherever she'd decided to go was a project requiring more energy than any of them currently had.
Eleanor had watched her go with the expression as someone who had just cried in front of her sister for the first time in four centuries and was still processing the aftermath of that.
Though… Eleanor isn't even a century old yet…
Then she'd sat down on the couch. Not next to Valerian, though that arrangement had been a genuine possibility that several people in the room had visibly calculated for. She'd sat in the chair across from it, the one Eva had vacated, and had looked at her own hands for a while with the thoughtful quality of someone taking inventory.
The room had settled.
