Uriel finished the pastry in two greedy bites while the courtyard kept arranging itself around their unexpected reunion.
Servants herded newly arriving guests toward the entrance while musicians tested a sour passage somewhere beyond the trimmed royal hedges. His sister ignored both, chewing with the bone-deep confidence of someone who expected every room to clear space for her.
Hajin let the pastry keep her mouth busy while he decided how much of their history belonged here.
'Of all the people in that damn house, they sent the one who never shuts up.'
He eyed the crumbs clinging to her fingers and let a sliver of the old familiarity onto his face.
He shifted so Juna could stay beside him, "Still eating through everybody else's conversations, huh? Good to know some habits survive anything."
Uriel swallowed and inspected him, her gaze snagging again and again on the changed line of his shoulders.
