I kept my eyes fixed on my plate longer than necessary, cutting my food into neat little squares I had no intention of eating. Every time I risked a glance upward, Kairo was already speaking to someone else, his voice low and smooth as velvet. But then, as if he could sense me watching, his gaze would flicker back—just long enough to make my stomach knot.
'So, Lyra,' one of Elijah's friends leaned toward me, smiling. 'Elijah tells us you're working on a big project? Something with publishing?'
I nodded quickly, grateful for the distraction. 'Yes. It's… it's a lot of late nights, but I enjoy it.'
'She's a perfectionist,' Elijah cut in, laughing. 'Always has been. If something's not perfect, she won't let it go.'
My cheeks warmed. 'That's not true,' I protested softly, though it was.
The man chuckled, but across the table, Kairo's eyes lingered on me again. This time, his expression was unreadable, somewhere between curiosity and something sharper.
A woman seated to his right—elegant, poised, with a diamond bracelet glittering under the lights—leaned closer to him. She whispered something that made him smirk faintly. He responded, turning his full attention to her, and something inside me tightened.
Why should it bother me? It was none of my business who he spoke to, who leaned too close, who laughed at his words like she'd known him all her life. And yet, my fingers curled tighter around the stem of my glass.
Elijah must have noticed my silence because he nudged me gently. 'You okay?'
I forced a smile. 'Of course. Just tired.'
But when I dared another glance, I caught Kairo watching me again, his conversation with the woman barely masking the way his gaze slipped back toward me.
The dinner carried on, laughter growing louder as the wine flowed freely. I laughed when others laughed, answered questions when asked, but inside my mind was a storm.
When the dessert plates were cleared, Elijah excused himself to take a call. That was when it happened—Kairo rose from his chair, smooth and commanding, and stepped away from the table. Not a word to me, not even a glance this time.
But the moment he disappeared through the side doors, I felt the pull. My chest tightened with the ache of wanting to follow, with the battle of telling myself not to.
What would I even say if I did?
Why was I even thinking of it?
'Lyra?' The same man from earlier broke through my thoughts. 'You've gone quiet again.'
I smiled politely, but my heart wasn't in it. Because somewhere beyond the doors, Kairo was. And I hated how badly I wanted to know where he'd gone.