SOREN
My office had never felt smaller.
Or perhaps Eris simply filled it too completely. The way fire fills a room, consuming air, demanding attention, making everything else irrelevant.
I'd led her here directly after the confrontation, one hand still resting at the small of her back as we walked through corridors that seemed to empty before us.
Servants vanished into doorways. Guards found urgent need to inspect distant walls. Even Aldric, following a few paces behind, radiated the energy of a man desperately wishing he could be anywhere else.
The door closed behind us with a soft click.
Aldric had witnessed everything in that preparation chamber. I'd seen him standing near the doorway, face carefully neutral, but his eyes... his eyes had carried judgment. Disapproval. The belief that Eris had overreacted, had acted rashly, had created exactly the kind of political incident we should be avoiding.
But he said nothing.
