She hesitated, glancing at the brush. Her first instinct was to refuse. To say no, to push her away. Every inch of her skin still remained wrong, tainted, like the filth had seeped into her bones. She didn’t want anyone touching her. But Amara wasn’t him. She wasn’t holding her down. She wasn’t forcing anything. She was just offering.
Her voice barely broke above a whisper. “…Okay.”
Amara sat behind her, pulling the strands over her shoulder before carefully working through them. The bristles tugged, but Amara was patient, her strokes even, her hand light.
Elora closed her eyes.
It’s not the same.But maybe, for a little while, it didn’t have to be.
Except... it wouldn’t last, would it?
The kindness of Amara’s presence, the softness of her touch, the illusion of safety—it was borrowed time. A fragile moment in a place that would never truly let her be clean.
Chapter 28
Tehvan
Tehvan sat at his desk, his fingers restless against its worn surface. The dim candlelight in his office cast long shadows across the wooden walls, stretching across the stacks of books and half-finished letters littering his desk. Outside, the wind howled softly against the old stone of the Institute, a hollow sound, restless and unrelenting, just like the thoughts running through his mind.
His hand drifted to the ring on his finger, thumb spinning it in quick, nervous rotations. The metal was cool against his skin, a contrast to the heat churning inside him. Through it, he could feel her heartbeat. It was steady, but too quick. Still shaken. Still afraid.
He rubbed his hands across his face, trying to wipe away the feeling of failure seeping into his very pores.I should have known.
Gerard had hurt her. He hadn’t stopped him. Because he hadn’t expected it, he committed an unforgivable sin. He should have. He knew how much of a monster Gerard was.
He should have stopped it before it happened. He had put so much effort into protecting her, shaping their escape, but what did any of it matter if he had left her vulnerable tohim?
His hands balled up, and he slammed them down on his desk, the candle flame fluttering from the force. He needed to get her out of here.Soon.He didn’t want to imagine what more might happen in the next week; what else they would take from her before he could get her somewhere safe.
A sharp creak cut through his thoughts. The door.
He didn’t lift his head. Didn’t have to. He already knew who it was.
Professor Sadia stepped inside. She had twisted her gray curls into a tight bun, and a long floral robe enveloped her dainty form. Comfortable.How is she so relaxed right now?She sat in the seat opposite him, without hesitation, without invitation, hands folded neatly in her lap.
“Elora made it back to the ward’s quarters,” she said, as if that was what mattered most. As if thatfixedanything.
Tehvan exhaled slowly through his nose, his grip on the ring tightening.
She was there.In the woods. She witnessed what Gerard had done.And she hadn’t stopped him.
“Is that all you came to say?” His voice was steady now, even. But something dark had settled beneath the words.
Sadia cocked her head slightly, watching him. “You blame me.”
“How could you just stand there?” His voice broke, raw with anger, guilt, helplessness, all twisting together like a blade in his chest. “Why did you watch and do nothing?”
Sadia didn’t flinch. Her gaze was steady, like that of a woman confident in her reasoning. “And what should I have done?” she asked simply.
Tehvan tried to speak, but no answer came. He wanted to saystop him, intervene, fight back, but the words felt childish, naïve, even to him.
Sadia leaned forward, her voice softer now, but no less sharp. “There was nothing I could do,” she said. “Not without putting her in more danger.”
He didn’t want to hear that. He shifted his attention from her, focusing on the papers spread out on his desk, avoiding the truth in her eyes.
“It’s hard to accept,” Sadia continued, “but you know as well as I do—by Abernathy’s standards, by the Empire’s standards—Gerard did nothing wrong.”
Tehvan squeezed his eyes shut for half a second, shaking his head.Nothing wrong.
