Chapter 110: Pretending?
The cave had fallen quiet hours ago, but the silence brought no real rest, only a stillness that lingered too heavily to be ignored. Kael remained awake where he sat, his back resting lightly against the cold stone as his gaze settled on the dim glow of the dying fire, watching as the last embers flickered weakly against the darkness.
Across the space, Selena lay unmoving, her breathing slow and even, her presence quieter than it had been in days in a way that felt unfamiliar, not because it was loud before, but because it had once carried weight.
Now, it did not reach for them. It did not press or pull through the bond the way it used to. It simply existed, separate and steady, and that quiet distance unsettled him more than anything else had.
Edris broke the silence first, his voice low but certain as he looked in Selena’s direction and said that she was pretending, the words carrying a conviction that felt more like insistence than observation.
Ronan disagreed almost immediately, his tone quieter but firm, saying that she was not pretending, that what they had seen was real whether they liked it or not.
Edris did not accept that, his expression tightening slightly as he continued to watch her, arguing that people did not simply change like that, not without reason, and that she still loved them whether she admitted it or not.
Kael listened without interrupting, his gaze shifting between them as the conversation unfolded, noting the tension building beneath their words, the quiet resistance that neither of them seemed willing to let go of.
When Edris finally said that if they did not believe him, they should watch, there was a deliberate edge to it that made Kael pay closer attention, though he did not question him as Edris pushed himself to his feet and moved toward the cave entrance with clear intent.
Ronan asked what he was doing, but Edris only replied that he was going to prove it before disappearing outside, leaving the rest of them in a silence that felt heavier than before.
When he returned, Nyra was with him, her expression shifting quickly from curiosity to something sharper as she read the room, her gaze flickering toward Selena before settling back on Edris.
Without explanation, he pulled her closer, his movements firm and controlled, leaving little room for misunderstanding as Nyra adjusted easily, her body aligning with his as though she had already understood what he intended.
There was a faint satisfaction in her expression as she allowed it, her attention briefly sliding toward Selena again, waiting.
Kael remained where he was, his focus sharpening as he watched the scene unfold, fully aware of what Edris was trying to do and why. It was not about Nyra.
It was about provoking a reaction, about forcing something out of Selena that would confirm what he believed still existed beneath her calm exterior.
Ronan shifted slightly, his discomfort evident even though he said nothing, his attention drawn between Edris and Selena as the tension in the cave thickened. Kael’s gaze moved as well, settling on Selena as he waited to see what would happen.
At first, she did not move at all, her breathing remaining steady, her posture unchanged as though the moment held no significance. Then, slowly, she turned onto her side, her back now facing them, her body language calm and unaffected in a way that felt deliberate, not dismissive, but entirely indifferent.
There was no reaction.
No hesitation.
No sign that she cared.
Time stretched longer than it should have, the silence growing heavier as Edris held onto the moment, as though waiting for something to break through, for some indication that she was still affected, that something remained beneath the surface.
But nothing came.
Selena did not acknowledge them. She did not look in their direction. She did not react.
After a while, she pushed herself up with the same quiet composure, her movements unhurried as she rose to her feet and walked past them without a glance, her expression neutral, her focus already elsewhere as though they were no longer part of it.
Then she left.
The shift in the cave was immediate, though subtle, the silence that followed heavier than before, not because something had happened, but because nothing had. Edris stilled, the certainty that had driven him faltering in a way he did not immediately acknowledge, his grip on Nyra loosening before he stepped back entirely, his attention no longer on her.
Nyra’s expression tightened slightly, her satisfaction fading into something less certain as she glanced between them, clearly not expecting that outcome. Edris’s jaw hardened as his gaze moved toward the cave entrance where Selena had disappeared, his thoughts shifting as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.
He said that maybe that was not it, his voice lower now, less certain than before, and when Ronan asked what he meant, Edris exhaled slowly before suggesting that maybe Selena was not pretending at all.
The idea lingered, unsettled, before something darker took its place as he added that maybe there was someone else.
That drew a sharper reaction, Ronan questioning it immediately, but Edris continued, his reasoning building as he spoke, insisting that people did not simply stop feeling like that without cause, that something must have changed, and if it was not them, then it had to be someone else.
Kael remained quiet, but the possibility, however flawed, did not go entirely dismissed, because it introduced something he did not yet understand, and that alone made it worth considering.
Without another word, Kael moved toward the cave entrance, his decision made, and the others followed without question. Outside, the air was cooler, the forest stretching endlessly ahead of them as the faint presence of the bond lingered without direction, offering no guidance this time.
They tracked her anyway, not through the bond, but through instinct and familiarity, moving carefully through the trees, keeping their distance as they followed the path she had taken deeper into the forest. It did not take long to find her, and when they did, Kael slowed, his attention sharpening as he took in the sight before him.
Selena stood alone in a clearing, moving with purpose.
She was not wandering.
She was not lost.
She was training.
Her movements were controlled and deliberate, each motion flowing into the next with a precision that spoke of repetition and effort, her body responding with a fluidity that had not been there before. She struck, turned, adjusted, her focus entirely on what she was doing, as though nothing else existed beyond that space.
Ronan reacted first, his voice low with disbelief as he questioned when that had started, while Edris muttered that she must have been doing it for some time, the realization settling in with a weight that neither of them seemed comfortable with.
Kael said nothing, but his gaze remained fixed on her, noting the details, the improvements, the control she was building without their knowledge.
Ronan suggested, almost incredulously, that maybe she was training so she could take them on, the idea hovering somewhere between mockery and uncertainty, and Edris began to dismiss it, but the words never fully formed.
Selena stopped.
The shift was immediate and sharp enough to cut through the moment, her body going still before her head turned directly toward where they stood hidden among the trees.
All three of them reacted at once, moving back into cover without a sound, their presence disappearing into the shadows as the forest fell silent around them.
Kael remained still, his focus narrowing as he listened, waiting for any sign that they had been discovered.
Nothing came.
After a moment, Selena turned away again, resuming her movements as though nothing had happened, her attention returning fully to her training.
Ronan let out a quiet breath, saying that she had not seen them, but Kael did not respond.
His gaze remained fixed on her, something colder settling beneath the surface, because the way she had looked in their direction had not felt uncertain.
It had felt deliberate.
And if she was pretending not to have seen them, then, she may have more things up her sleeves than they were giving her credit for.
