All the cousins were gathered in the living room, talking over each other like always. The room felt warm and loud — Cassian arguing with Orion, Selene scrolling through her phone, Lyra sitting quietly but watching everything.
Amara sat on the couch with Cassian and Orion, trying to focus on the conversation.
But her eyes kept drifting.
Adrian was sitting across from her… and Lyra was sitting right beside him.
Too close.
Closer than she needed to be.
Amara's chest tightened.
Lyra leaned slightly toward Adrian, pretending to look at something on her own phone — but her eyes kept flicking toward his screen.
Adrian noticed.
He tilted his phone away, the private screen protector making everything unreadable from the side. Lyra tried again, leaning a little more.
He locked his phone.
Lyra blinked, pretending she wasn't trying to peek.
Amara looked away quickly, forcing herself to listen to the others, nodding even though she barely heard a word.
Her stomach twisted.
She didn't want to stare. She didn't want to care. But she couldn't help it.
She distracted herself, laughing at something Cassian said, joining Selene's conversation, trying to act normal.
But Adrian kept glancing at her.
Confused.
She wasn't looking at him. She wasn't reacting to him. She wasn't even acknowledging him.
He frowned slightly, shifting in his seat.
Before he could say anything, one of the elders called from the hallway:
"Adrian. Aiden. We need you both."
Aiden stood up immediately. "Coming."
Adrian looked at Amara one last time.
She didn't look back.
He hesitated for a moment — wanting to say something, wanting to pull her aside, wanting to understand what changed — but the elder called again.
So he turned away and followed Aiden out of the room.
Amara watched him leave from the corner of her eye.
Her heart sank a little.