Chapter 241: Possessed?
The meal ended in a tense, unfamiliar quiet.
Arthur and Marlene were plainly unsettled. Nothing Elias had done since returning resembled the boy they remembered. He had spoken to Arthur like a favored son, treated Marlene like hired help, and taken control of the household without raising his voice. The change had left them watching him carefully, as though he might reveal the trick at any moment.
Elias did not care what conclusions they reached.
He was full.
That was enough.
Arthur's cooking had not been exceptional, but it was solid, comforting food, the kind made from habit rather than technique. Elias had spent too many missions eating whatever kept him alive, meals purchased under false names, cold takeout in anonymous rooms, luxury food served as part of a threat. A plate made by a guilty foster father in this worn little house was not grand, but it had been cooked because Elias asked for it. That gave it a particular charm.
