A little more than a paragraph
But something from the last chapter, as the next arc will be starting this weekend!
His fingers tightened around Eliâs arm, but the thief only smiled serenely at him. The shadows kept climbing. Ilo circled around him, cawing.
âDo you trust me?â Eli asked.
An honest question. Fiaâs heart stumbled as he looked into Eliâs eyes. No deception waited for him there. And it would have been so easy to convince himself something like it existed. That all of this was the result of his own folly, that he really was no more than a fool, the empireâs puppet. And yet, Eli looked at him with nothing more than a stalwart belief in what they both were.
Alive.
âWhat are you going to do?â
Eli shrugged as the shadows slipped beneath Fiaâs hand and peeled his fingers away, one by one. It felt like a loss. Not in the way a battle could be, but a heart. He glanced at his wrist as the black tendrils coiled around him, around the bars of the cell behind him, tethering him in place. The wolves had gone silent. Fia reached into the darkness and found only regret and apologies brushing up against him.