Chapter 172

• In circles like ours, appearances were everything. A man and a woman, alone behind closed doors, carried implications especially when both were as powerful as Rafael and me. Antern, ever precise, usually ensured someone else was present for moments like these. But today, he quietly stepped out after pouring the tea, leaving instructions for no one to disturb us.
• Rafael sat in silence, his hand slowly circling the rim of his cup, eyes fixed on a point just past my shoulder. His stillness didn’t calm the room it made it tenser.
• I watched him, noting the taut line of his jaw, the heaviness in his silence. I spoke first, carefully.