-Elias Grayson:
The second he said that—if I take it off, you won't be the same anymore—something inside me snapped tight.
He said it like a challenge. Like a threat. Like he was daring me to flinch. I don't know what he's hiding behind that mask. I saw a part of his face earlier; he looks normal, pretty, but why did he make it sound like he's hiding something that should never be shown? Something that can change me?
I pushed my chair back slowly and stood up, the legs scraping faintly against the floor. He rose too, unhurried, towering over me as always, that infuriating composure sliding back into place like armor.
