"His silence was heavier than stone."
The aftermath of viral humiliation followed Silver through her restless sleep and into the gray February morning like a persistent ache. She'd barely managed three hours of broken rest before her alarm dragged her back to consciousness, and the memory of Eli's expression across the dining hall hit her immediately—that moment when his face had gone carefully blank, when she'd watched him disappear behind walls she'd never seen him build so efficiently.
