Soraya's POV
Elowen did not wait for an invitation.
She never did.
She stepped fully into the doorway as if it already belonged to her, as if my space, my breath, my existence were things she had always been entitled to invade. The guards remained just outside, rigid and alert, hands close to their weapons. A silent reminder. A threat dressed as protection.
The torchlight along the corridor caught in the polished edges of their armor, casting fractured reflections across the walls. It felt deliberate. A show. Elowen never wasted an opportunity to remind others how small they were meant to feel in her presence. How easily she could summon violence without ever dirtying her own hands.
I closed the door behind me carefully.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The sound echoed down the corridor like a final nail sealing something shut.
Liam was asleep inside. That was the only reason I hadn't torn this entire hall apart already.
