Aelion's expression changed at once, the lightness gone from his face and replaced by a seriousness that sharpened every line of him.
"One of the monsters escaped," he said, "and the archduke is the one trying to trap it again. His wife fell and hit her head, and she has been unconscious since then, yet this man has not left the Arcanum."
Aveline let out a slow breath, more thoughtful than startled. "Does he know his wife is unconscious?" she asked. "Did anyone tell him?"
Aelion blinked, then looked away for the briefest moment, as though she had touched on something he would rather not consider too closely. "He would know if he went home like everyone else," he said at last.
That made sense, at least on the surface. Aveline accepted it with a small nod, though her mind did not quite let the matter rest.
