The feeling of being watched didn't go away after the message. It settled into the room's structure, getting into the quiet spaces between movement and thought and changing how every sound and shadow was seen. The strategy room in Ashford Tower used to be clear and in control, but now it was full of an invisible tension that neither Seraphina nor Lucien could fully understand.
However, neither of them left.
People might have seen their choice to stay as a sign of confidence or even defiance. It was something more planned on the inside. If they left the room, they would have given up a position they still held. Staying meant keeping up the appearance of stability, even though that stability was starting to change.
Seraphina stood near the glass wall, her gaze fixed on the reflection rather than the city beyond it. The message on her phone still lingered in her mind, not because of its words alone, but because of what it revealed about Adrian's position.
He was no longer distant.
