Aurelia did not realize how quiet the chamber had become until the silence pressed in on her from all sides.
At first, she thought nothing of it. Eldoria was a peaceful realm ,too peaceful, perhaps , where sound softened instead of echoing, where even footsteps seemed to ask permission before disturbing the air. The palace itself felt alive in a restrained way, as though it preferred observation over intrusion.
But this was different.
She felt this ....
This was absence.
She stood near the center of the chamber, fingers loosely clasped before her, her gaze drifting without purpose across the space Malion had occupied only moments earlier. The hearth still held the faint warmth of a fire he had stood beside. The chair near the window remained slightly angled, to show that he had risen from it in haste.
He was gone.
Again.
Without explanation. Without warning.
Aurelia inhaled slowly, steadying herself.
"He really does that," she muttered. "Just… leaves."
