Page 104 of The Last Remaining Light

Korvel laughed lightly beneath his breath. She hated how infuriatingly perfect he looked tonight.

His dark formal attire had been tailored with the elegance only powerful men could afford, all layered charcoal and silver-threaded embroidery that marked political affiliations. For what good those did, people in the hall often missed those details. Or they simply didn’t care.

As they crossed another section of the ballroom, his gray eyes remained fixed on her with quiet attentiveness. It made her feel like an exhibit in one of the crystal galleries, as though he were patiently studying every facet, waiting to discover the ones she kept hidden.

Those secrets would never be his.

Over the last several moons, Elowynn had begun noticing moments where Korvel stopped sounding like a charming political operative and instead began sounding like a man trying very hard to learn exactly how her mind worked. For a while, Elowynn didn't think he knew she had noticed.

Now she was beginning to suspect he did.

A cluster of Collegium scholars intercepted them near the eastern observatory gallery.

“Scholar Selvicta!” one called to her in a bright tone. “We were just discussing your demonstration!”

Stars preserve her, she was not in the mood.

Another scholar leaned forward, his eagerness to see and converse with her clear on his round face.

“Is it true you manipulated twelve active astrylite vectors simultaneously without a focusing lattice?” he asked with beady, blinking eyes.

Elowynn smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. “Fourteen, actually.”

There was a beat of silence as she corrected the scholar before overlapping arguments erupted around her and she took that moment to step away from them.

Korvel hid a grin behind his wine glass. He had that look again, the one that made her feel like she was a specimen. It was like he enjoyed watching people orbit around her, and he was reaping the benefits of all the attention.

Alyra appeared moments later, looking elegant in deep emerald silks, her black curls pinned atop her head in an intricate arrangement that somehow remained effortlessly graceful. Lora swept in behind her, already halfway through swiping a glass of champagne from a passing servant.

“You,” Lora announced to Elowynn, “have become the single most terrifying woman in this city.”

Elowynn tried to look coy, but failed. Instead, she just looked bored.

“One does try,” she drawled in a dry tone.

“You corrected a Conclave engineer publicly just last span. I recall he had the look of a wounded animal afterward.”

“He probably was an animal,” Elowynn muttered over the brim of her glass.

Korvel snorted at this, and Lora gave him a withering look.

“You find this amusing, hm?”

He bowed his head toward her. “Caught me,” he crooned.

Lora just rolled her eyes, her lip curling. Alyra was trying very hard not to sneer at the pompous councilman herself.

Meanwhile, Elowynn’s gaze was panning around, observing the entire room.

Briefly, she thought she had seen something move by one of the pillars. Her gaze locked there for a few breaths, seeing nothing but whispering couples, before continuing her perusal of the hall.

Alyra stepped beside Elowynn, drawing her focus away from the crowd.

“Vaelor is here,” she said, her voice low.

“Naturally,” Elowynn said. “I would be concerned if he were not. Only the stars know what he would be getting up to otherwise,” she mumbled.

Elowynn’s eyes swept on instinct toward the western galleries where several senior Conclave figures stood beneath suspended lanternlight made to look like falling stars.