Semua Bab Beneath the Diamond Veil: Bab 41

Silence used to mean safety.For Elara, it no longer did.The days after her realization felt stretched thin, like fabric pulled too tight. Nothing openly wrong happened, yet nothing felt right either. Conversations ended too quickly. Glances lingered too long. Even the walls seemed to listen.The facility had entered a new phase. Not lockdown. Not panic.Preparation.Elara noticed it in the smallest things. Security rotations changed. Doors required longer scans. The staff who once spoke freely now measured their words. Everyone felt the pressure, even if they didn’t understand its source.She did.Because the attention never fully left.It hovered at the edges of her awareness like a held breath.She learned to live with it.That morning, Elara trained alone.Phoenix had insisted.“Independence matters,” she had said. “You need to know what is yours without reflection.”So Elara stood in the lower practice room, barefoot on the cool floor, eyes closed. No screens. No observers.Just