Chapter 37. Going Numb

He wore his hatred like a cruel second skin

Amber gazed at the king of beasts. He looked confused as fuck.

For a heartbeat the hall held its breath; the air tasted metallic, heavy with unsaid things. Even the torches seemed to lean in, their flames flickering as if unsettled by the strange, intimate violence of the moment.

He assessed his surroundings before setting his eyes on Amber.

“What’s the problem?” Darach asked.

“What’s the problem?” Amber echoed in a questioning tone.

Her voice was small in the space between them and enormous in her chest, a fragile bell tolling a warning she could not stop. The question wasn’t rhetorical — it was the last honest thing she could force from herself before the walls of pretense collapsed entirely.

“I did something working?” Darach asked while scratching the back of his head, looking anywhere but at her.

The scratch was a pathetic attempt at normalcy; a child mimicking adult gestures. It made the