"Yahhoo?"
He lifted the cup an inch, as though toasting the three of them, and the half-smile settled back where it belonged. It was a good recovery. Elara had watched him make better ones.
Her own face held. Her grip on the strap of her bag tightened by a degree, and she allowed that, since a strap was permitted to be gripped. Beside her Aurelian had opened his mouth and found nothing to put in it.
He had not mentioned it. She went back over last night's hour to be sure, the way she would recheck a ratio, and came out at the same gap where a remark should have been. He had asked about the work and nothing but the work.
