It had been a long time since Ariana and Liam had shared a space alone like this.
Ariana realized it with a strange, almost aching clarity as she sat across from him. The last time had been nearly a year ago, weeks before the Gaia War had changed the shape of everything around them.
Back then, things had been different. Liam had still been distant, of course. He had always been distant. But the academy had felt less heavy then. Their lives had not yet been dragged through war, Nalim, political tension, and everything else that now seemed to gather around him like a shadow that refused to detach.
Since then, they were almost always with others. Dylan talking too much. Charlotte teasing. Maxwell laughing. Sheila carrying her quiet responsibilities. Asher turning every shared silence into an unspoken competition. There was nearly always someone nearby, some noise, some interruption, some reason Ariana could not simply sit with him without feeling watched or teased.
