The Coalition had provided us with a private space again, proper walls and distance from curious personnel, which I appreciated because the last thing I needed was strangers watching me process the fact that my friends were afraid of me.
We gathered around the table for lunch, food brought by Coalition staff who'd left quickly after setting everything down, and the silence was suffocating.
Nobody spoke, nobody looked at each other directly.
We just sat there picking at food we weren't really tasting, and the weight of everything unsaid pressed down like a physical thing.
I kept my eyes on my plate, forcing myself to eat mechanically, while Khaos sat on the table beside me creating small sparkles that nobody acknowledged.
But I could feel them watching.
Henrik's eyes would flick to me when he thought I wasn't paying attention, assessing, calculating.
Mara kept glancing between me and Khaos with an expression I couldn't quite read.
