"Where are you heading?"
Elara looked at Selphine.
For a moment, the books in her arms seemed considerably more conspicuous than they had several breaths earlier. Selphine stood near the central staircase with one hand resting against the strap of her satchel, her expression composed in that familiar way which revealed very little by itself. Yet her eyes had already moved over the introductory circulation text, the notebooks beneath it, and the loose collection of copied diagrams tucked between their covers. When her gaze returned to Elara's face, a faint warmth gathered beneath Elara's collar, followed by the unpleasant awareness of moisture forming near her temple.
It was ridiculous.
She had grown up beneath far more dangerous attention.
