Mikhailis braced himself as he stepped forward, each footfall against the worn stone seeming to echo louder than it should. The air between Elowen and Estella felt thick, a silent tension that gripped his chest tighter with each step. Rodion's data streams flared brightly in his vision, flooding him with overlays of facial microexpressions, heart rate fluctuations, and emotional deviation graphs.
She's definitely going to say something, Mikhailis thought, jaw tightening slightly. I've seen that look in her eyes. Calm on the surface, storm beneath.
