章節 45: Guilt?

The soft ticking of the clock melted into the quiet of the night. Elion sat at his desk, his eyes fixed on the blank screen of his laptop. Midnight had come and gone, yet he found no peace in the silence of his office.

The earlier argument with Raelynn lingered in the back of his mind, replaying like a broken record he couldn't turn off. The flash of anger in her eyes when she pushed back, her sharp words that struck him harder than they should have—he hadn't expected it. For some reason, it bothered him. It left him with this strange, nagging discomfort in the pit of his stomach. Was this guilt?

He scoffed under his breath and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling as if it might hold answers. Why should I feel guilty? It's for the best, he thought bitterly. She broke the rules. It was for her safety—she needed to understand that. Still, even as he tried to convince himself, the heavy feeling in his chest refused to go away.