Chapter 76: Phantom Dream
There was no way Liora could hear what the two of them were saying from that far away.
Even so, she could see Elias shaking his head over and over.
The distance should have made the rest impossible. She should not have been able to make out his expression, the color in his face, the way his mouth moved. Yet her mind supplied it anyway with merciless clarity: the reddened eyes, the drained pallor, the tremor in his voice, the faint catch of tears he always seemed to wear so naturally in front of Giselle.
That was the version of himself he gave her.
In Liora's imagination, she could already hear him.
Giselle, I can't. I can't get down.
And then Giselle, cool and unhurried as winter glass, would answer, Jump. I'll catch you.
The fantasy felt so vivid that it might as well have been whispered beside her ear. As it played out in her mind, her pupils tightened sharply, and then the imagined scene became reality. Elias leaped.
