- Sebastian Lightwood:
Two weeks passed like that.
Quiet on the surface. Loud underneath.
Nothing happened—and that somehow felt worse than everything happening at once.
Elias and I never talked about the kiss. Not once. Not a word. Not even a look that lingered long enough to count as a question. We existed around it instead, like it was a fragile object sitting between us that neither of us dared to touch.
We held hands sometimes. Small, absent gestures. His fingers brushed mine when we walked down the hallway. Our shoulders pressed together when we ate. Domestic things. Normal things. Things that made my chest ache because they felt like promises neither of us had spoken out loud.
We talked about university. About food. About nothing. About everything that wasn't us.
Aurelian and Elias still fought every chance they got.
That, at least, stayed the same.
