That was the first time anyone had ever said anything like that to me.
Considering I was thirty years old, that was saying something.
How many times had I cursed my stupid, oversized, too-pale eyes?
The ones my sisters mocked.
The ones my mother dismissed.
But here—for one impossible second—they didn’t feel like a mistake.
Not wrong or cartoonish.
Here, with him, they felt right. And I suddenly felt seen.
Dangerous, Amrin. Very dangerous.
I swallowed.
Hard.
Then I shoved the paper at him before I could overthink it.
He took it.
Carefully.
Deliberately.
Not touching me.
Not even accidentally.
Sten leaned against a tree.
And I blinked.
When had we reached the forest?
And where the heck were we exactly?
Oh.
Right.
We’d somehow trekked to the forbidden part of the forest—the one Professor Kenna warned us about in all the onboarding literature for the Institute.
Fantastic.
Lightning split the sky above us.
Thunder rolled.
And the storm broke.
Rain came down hard—cold, relentless, soaking through my thin shirt instantly.
I grabbed at my white shirt, trying to pull it away from my body, suddenly hyper-aware of everything.
