The word came back with a sting of memory: the sealed letter, the instruction not to pry but to watch, to lend aid when necessary, to treat the girl called Elowyn as though she belonged here even if the seams of her presence didn't quite fit.
Selphine scoffed softly under her breath, the sound low enough to be mistaken for a sigh.
'Problematic indeed. And yet… somehow, amusing. She hides so much, but the moment he pushes, everything she's built cracks wide open. It's reckless. But strangely human, too.'
Her gaze sharpened again, tracing the faint tremor in Elara's shoulders, the flush refusing to fade from her cheeks.
'She doesn't even realize it, does she? That she gives herself away.'
But as Selphine watched, the shift began.
