1Lucien.
If anyone asked, I'd say I didn't care. About humans, about the Elowen boy, about the games the rest of them seemed to love playing. And for most of my life, that was true. Indifference was easy. Detachment was safer. It was how my father raised me: observe everything, feel nothing, let nothing get close enough to hurt you.
But then Adrian Elowen arrived, and my peace was ruined.
From the beginning, there was something off about him. I noticed before anyone else did, but kept it to myself. He was too quiet, too careful, his gaze always calculating, his movements just slightly wrong for a noble's son, especially one thrown into a place like Umbra Noctis. He watched people, like he was learning the rules of a game he didn't want to play. He reminded me of prey, but not the kind that runs and screams. The kind that waits for an opening, or dies with its eyes open.
