Alaric
I don't know how long I stood in that doorway before either of us moved. Long enough that the silence itself became its own kind of answer.
*[Say something,]* Rook said, urgent, the first time his voice had ever sounded uncertain.
I didn't have anything to say. My whole mind had gone quiet and white, every careful assumption I'd built about the person standing in front of me collapsing at once, replaced by a truth so complete it left no room for anything except looking at her.
Finch — no. Not Finch. A stranger wearing a name I'd trusted, standing there with a wrap half-undone and eyes wide with a fear I recognized now for exactly what it had always been.
*[She's terrified,]* Rook said, quieter. *[Look at her. Whatever this is, she's more scared right now than she's ever been.]*
