They sat there for a while.
No one said anything.
Which was kind of her thing. But Nathan hated it.
His knee bounced without permission. His hands kept fidgeting like they wanted to hold something, fix something, break something.
But there was nothing.
Just stone steps. Distant voices from some dorm hallway he wasn't in the mood to care about. And Elara, silent as always, like she could outwait the storm.
He finally looked at her again.
Still calm. Still unreadable.
He hated that too.
"El," he said quietly. "I'm not going to stop asking."
She blinked once.
That was it.
Just one blink.
But her posture shifted slightly. Less closed off. More… resigned.
She didn't look at him when she spoke.
"Below the courtyard."
His breath hitched.
"What?"
"That's where he went."
Nathan's mouth opened.
Then shut again.
'Below? The courtyard has a below? Since when?'
She continued, voice level.
"There's something under the garden. Something he noticed earlier. I did too."
