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Yes it was.

I placed the coffee back down. Then slowly turned, finding her standing in the doorway. She didn’t walk in. Didn’t sit in my chair. She always sat there. Didn’t make herself at home.

Something had changed.

I carried my cup slowly around the edge of the desk and sat. My gaze went to the folder on my desk.

“Well?” Her tone was harder.

I took a sip. Tried to read her. For the first time since she stepped into my world I couldn’t.

This wasn’t the Nyssa I knew.

“Someone I hoped I’d never see again.” I answered.

Now she took a step, moving closer to the edge of the desk. Her gaze went to the folder. It took everything in me to grab the damn thing and slide it into a drawer, then lock it away. But the moment I made a move it’d draw a line between us. That I didn’t want. Especially now.

I left it where it was.

Between us.

Like a loaded gun.

“Why?”

I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter.”

She stepped closer. “I think it does. I think it matters very much, Alaric.”

Alaric?

She never said my name like that. Like she was… keeping something from me.

“Who is Cassian?” I looked at her. Really looked at her. “The kind of man mothers invent to frighten children.”

Her brow furrowed.

“Except…” My voice dropped. “He isn’t invented.”

I leaned forward took another sip of my coffee. “Why are you asking me about Cassian?”

Her breathing changed.

Tiny.

Almost nothing.

But I’d spent months learning her.

“What happened?”

She flinched and wenched those wide eyes to me. “N-nothing.”

Lie.

She really… lied to me.

Don’t push her. Let her come to me. I gave a shrug.