72. Fool Yourself

[ELARA]

"Princess Elara," Valen says, his voice a soft murmur that barely disturbs the still air of the dimly lit library. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come." He closes the book in his hand with a quiet thud, the sound echoing faintly in the silence, and makes his way towards me with a grace that makes his footsteps almost silent on the polished wooden floor.

His singular eye moves from my trembling hands to my face, a fleeting smirk tugging at his lips as he remarks, "You look shaken."

I draw in a deep breath, feeling a wave of annoyance wash over me. "I just delivered the news of someone’s rogueness to her mother and my father," I mutter, my voice tight. "How else am I expected to look?"

"Her mother and your father? That’s interesting," he muses, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "You’re surely a little relieved about the whole thing after what she did to you," he accuses, gesturing with a sweeping motion for me to take a seat on a cushioned chair by the fireplace, its embers