Elion's fingers froze at Raelynn's quiet question, his eyes locked onto hers. For a moment, the room seemed to hold its breath along with him. The silence stretched, pressing against the fragile space between them.
Then, as if shaken from a trance, Elion's hand lowered to her side. He cleared his throat softly, masking the tension that flickered beneath the surface.
"I was... nearby," he answered. "I heard something and came to check."
It was a simple explanation—one that should have been enough. Yet, as his fingers absently adjusted the edge of the blanket over her legs, Raelynn noticed the way his knuckles whitened. The small flicker of pressure, barely perceptible, betrayed the tension coiling beneath his composed façade.
Her lips parted as if to press him further, but she stopped herself. Perhaps she was reading too much into it. Maybe he truly had been close by. It was possible he had simply been worried, lingering outside the door after leaving Reinhart to watch over her.
