Chapter 178: Ink and Silence
Lyria's POV
For a moment, I thought perhaps I had misread what I had seen.
Perhaps it had not been a look of disgust at all.
Perhaps it had been nothing more than the angle of light upon Duke Thorncrest's expression.
That seemed more reasonable, and even more acceptable.
And yet… it was untrue.
When my gaze drifted back toward him, he was already looking at me.
Our eyes met across the space between the tables, across the stillness that stretched between suitors, observers, and expectation itself.
He did not hold it long.
Just long enough for me to notice.
Then, very faintly, his lips tilted up in a smirk.
It was small and courteous in its execution, as though even amusement in this place had to observe etiquette.
And then he turned away.
I did not understand how those two expressions could appear in the span of a second on his face, but I thought nothing of it.
