Cedric settled into the chair beside Azael with the easy comfort of someone who considered every room equally his and looked at Leon and Elsa with open curiosity.
"And you two are?" he asked.
Leon met his gaze directly.
"Leon Campbell," he said. "Rank ten."
"Elsa," she said quietly. "Rank twenty-eighth."
Cedric's brows rose slightly at the numbers. Then his eyes moved over them more carefully. Taking in the details that the numbers hadn't prepared him for. The village-worn quality of their ease with each other.
The way Elsa held herself. The absence of the particular polish that noble upbringing tended to apply to people whether they wanted it or not.
His expression shifted.
"You're commoners," he said.
It wasn't a question. The tone had changed too, something cooler entering it, something that arranged itself above the words rather than inside them.
"Yes," Leon said while watching evenly.
Cedric was quiet for a moment.
