Where is he?
Elysia scanned the crowded hall, her eyes flickering over familiar faces, but none of them were his.
She had managed to pull fragments of truth from Ash earlier — not because he told her directly, but because she had sensed the lies he wrapped around his words like armor.
Piece by piece, between his avoidance and half-truths, she had understood: that demons would be attacking today.
But she didn't know when. Or how.
She didn't even know how Ash had come to know something like this. Many questions burned in her mind, She wanted to confront him, to say she knew about the lies, about the half-truths he tried to bury beneath that calm face.
But she had held herself back because — the moment he spoke of the world ending, something in her heart shifted.
Because if it was Ash…
Then he'd never tell her anything. Not if it meant keeping her away from danger. Not after he'd already lost her once.
