12Kael.
Humans aren't supposed to get under my skin. They break too easily, they talk too much, and most of them are gone before I've bothered to remember their names. But Adrian Elowen? He's turning into the one exception I wish I could ignore.
When I woke that morning, the first thing I saw was him sitting on the edge of his bed, lacing his boots with the kind of focus you'd expect from someone preparing for a duel, not breakfast. Lucien was already up, of course, flipping through some book with those slow, measured page turns that make you want to rip it out of his hands. Rowan was sprawled sideways, one leg hanging off the bed like he'd fought a war in his sleep.
I pulled on my shirt and didn't think much about the day until we hit the dining hall. That's when I saw them.
Elias. Sitting across from Elowen like it was the most natural thing in the world.
