Raven stood in the observation hallway outside holding, arms folded tight across her chest, the cool glass pressing against her shoulder.
The room beyond the one-way mirror glowed under harsh white light. Elias slumped in the metal chair like something already half-broken, wrists still raw from the wire she had used to drag him back last night.
The groove at his throat had bruised deep purple, a thin line that rose and fell with every shallow breath. He looked smaller under the glare. Breakable. The kind of small that made her stomach tighten even though she refused to name why.
Adrian adjusted the cuff on his left sleeve with two precise fingers, the motion neat, economical, the same way he checked his blades before a spar.
"I work alone."
His voice carried through the speaker, flat, no give, the tone that once made her want to prove him wrong in the training hall.
