[Ovelia's POV]
The sudden solitude between us pressed against my skin. Ann's retreating footsteps had been deliberate—I'd seen the way she'd glanced back over her shoulder, the way her tail had given that knowing flick. She'd orchestrated this moment, cleared the clearing like a stage, left me alone with Ace in the silver wash of moonlight.
My fingers twisted in the fabric of my dress, knotting and unknotting, the silence stretching between us like a thread pulled too tight.
Say something, I told myself. Anything. Don't just stand here like a startled deer.
"Ace." My voice came out too loud in the quiet, breaking the stillness like a stone through glass. I winced. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
He lowered himself to the ground in one fluid motion, dried leaves crunched softly beneath his weight. The firelight from the distant torches caught the sharp angles of his face, the silver of his eyes, the bare expanse of his chest where his tunic should have been.
