The carriage moved through the dark city and Noel watched nothing through the window.
Cedric sat across from him and said nothing.
He had tried twice to speak to him... once outside the restaurant, once when they settled in... and both times Noel had given him the kind of one-word answer that meant 'not now' without saying it. So Cedric had stopped trying and simply sat there, which was, in its own way, more comforting than talking would have been.
Noel was somewhere else entirely. His mind, soul and body. Even his spirit wasn't in the carriage with Cedric.
At the restaurant. Twenty minutes ago.
Arthur had leaned back in his chair, relaxing after seeing and hearing Noel's priceless reaction.
"It's very possible," he said. "I just told you what I heard."
Noel had his trembling hand over his face.
"I never thought—" He stopped and dropped his hand. "No wait. There's no way that's possible because how is that even—"
