Chapter 162: No Starting Over
Elyn's POV
"Start all over?" I repeated.
I didn't raise my voice. I didn't laugh either. I just looked at him.
Zorathys seemed to sense that this was worse.
"No," I said simply. "We cannot start over."
The word cannot landed heavier than a will not ever could. It wasn't a refusal born of stubbornness or wounded pride. It was certainty. The kind that didn't need volume to be final.
Zorathys swallowed.
I could see it—his throat bobbing, the way his shoulders stiffened before he exhaled slowly. Even his shadows reacted, stretching along the marble floor before drooping like wilting ink.
"You set the date," I continued calmly. "You set the date for the introductory ball without telling me, didn't you?"
There was no reply.
Ignivar shifted slightly, his presence a steady heat at my back, while Naviel adjusted his glasses and stared very intently at a pillar like it had suddenly become fascinating.
Zorathys rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
