The doors closed and there was no noise. But it wasn’t a peaceful quiet. This was a solemn, suspicious silence. It waited. Elara was standing directly in the centre of the room and she was hyper-conscious of her breath and the places Silas had just touched on her arms. He was grasping her tightly and comfortingly, with a kind of uncertainty at the same, as though he were afraid to hold a fragile and dangerous thing in his hand. “You're hurt,” Silas said again. I was worse, I answered, but that was no excuse to have a shaky body. He was letting her go gradually, lest she should disappear, should he move too fast. He turned his head, and heard not what was going on around him, but what she was doing, his breathing, his heart. You smell of smoke, he said, and of metal. Elara stared at the wound on her arm as the dried blood stained her. Some one has made an effort to ensure I do not see morning. A cheek muscle twitched and a tightening of the jaw took place in Silas. He walked
Last Updated : 2026-01-12 Read more