"Lucavion wasn't there either."
Her pulse stuttered.
Not visibly. She kept her chin level, eyes steady—but Cedric watched her too closely for her to hide everything.
She felt the way her breath faltered—just a fraction. The kind of micro-pause that only someone who knew her deeply could detect.
Cedric's gaze caught it.
His voice remained calm, gentle even—but the air beneath it had changed. There was something in it now. A tension. A quiet pressure.
Not jealousy.
Not suspicion.
Something older.
Something rooted.
"He didn't show up," Cedric continued, his eyes never leaving her face. "Marian said he'd gone off somewhere right after the exam ended. No one could find him."
Elara opened her mouth—but nothing came out.
Cedric took a slow breath. "You were gone too. At the same time."
Her heartbeat thudded once—hard.
"So I just…"
He hesitated.
Then finished quietly, almost reluctantly—
"I wondered if you two crossed paths."
