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Rhyven glances toward the plate. "I have." I stare. He stares back.

I point. "That food has developed historical value."

"It's fine."

"It's cold."

"Food does that."

"Did you even touch it?" Silence. There.

Normally, I'd say something. Make fun of him. Tell him he's an idiot. Instead, I look at the reports. Too many. At his shoulders. Tight. The faint exhaustion beneath his eyes. His right hand flexes once before he reaches for another page. He has been in here for hours. Probably since dinner. Maybe before.

Something shifts. Small. Simple. Nyra's voice doesn't enter my head. I don't need it. I see it myself. He hasn't eaten.

"Go to bed." Rhyven says.

I blink. "I'm not the one who looks half dead."

"You're injured."

"I'm bruised."

"You fought Caelen."

I stare. "How do you know that?"

"His wrist." Oh. Right. The bite.

I smile. "He deserved it."

"Probably." Rhyven picks up another report.

I look at the cold plate again. Then the stack beside his elbow. Then him. I should leave. I don't. Not yet.

"Goodnight." I say eventually.

"Night." I walk toward the door. Stop with my hand on it. Look back once. Rhyven is already reading again. The plate remains untouched. For weeks, he has known when I haven't eaten. Known when my equipment needed fixing. Known which route was unsafe. Known when I was tired before I admitted it.

I thought he was simply observant. Maybe he is. But apparently, so am I.

I leave without saying anything. Tonight. But as I climb the stairs to Room Three-Zero-Four, one thought follows me. Rhyven hasn't eaten. And for some reason, I can't seem to stop thinking about it.

Chapter Forty-six

By Thursday morning, I have developed a problem.

Rhyven didn't eat dinner. That should not still be bothering me. It does. I know this because at six fourteen, while Professor Vayne straps my right arm against my ribs for non-dominant combat training, I am thinking about cold meat and untouched bread instead of the third-year vampire standing across from me with a practice sword.

"Vaelith." I look up. Vayne's expression says he knows exactly how far away my brain was.

"Present."

"I noticed." Wonderful. He tightens the final strap.

My right arm is now useless. Completely. "Left only."

"I gathered."