Chapter 171

• Elvira – First Person POV
• The summit had ended, its echoes still reverberating in the cold stone walls of the room. The air was thick with the weight of decisions made, the lingering tension of alliances and rivals. The others filed out, some with solemn faces, others with their thoughts. I stood there, motionless for a moment, watching the backs of those who left, each of them carrying their burdens like armor, too heavy to shed.
• I had expected Jaxon to follow me, as he always did. But he didn’t. He didn’t even glance back. For some reason the weight in my chest grew heavier, suffocating in the silence that followed. He was different tonight. Maybe he was tired of asking, tired of wondering if I remembered who I was, who we were.