The cave felt wrong after she left.
Not quiet, not empty—just wrong in a way that settled into the air and refused to leave, as though something that had been holding the space together had been pulled out too abruptly, leaving everything slightly off balance.
No one said anything at first.
The silence stretched, heavy but not peaceful, each of them aware of it and yet unwilling to be the one to break it. The fire crackled low against the stone, its warmth doing nothing to ease the tension that lingered beneath the surface.
Edris remained where he stood, his gaze fixed on the entrance long after Selena had disappeared beyond it, his mind replaying the moment she walked out—not the anger, not the defiance, but the look in her eyes just before she turned away.
Not broken.
That would have been easier to dismiss.
It had been something else.
