POV: Aurora
When the door closes behind Elias, I feel like I can finally breathe.
The room seems bigger without him. Herrera checks some data on her tablet and then offers to leave us "for a moment." Translation: she knows I need to talk to Dante without an audience.
When she leaves, it's just the two of us.
Dante remains leaning against the wall, arms crossed, staring at the door through which Valcourt left.
"Are you okay?" he finally asks.
"I don't know," I reply. "I feel like they put two cages in front of me and expected me to be grateful for the variety."
His mouth curves, but he doesn't quite smile.
"Valcourt is good at making bars look like automatic doors," he says.
I walk over to the table. A trace of Elias's metallic perfume still lingers. I feel like cleaning everything with bleach.
"At least now I know the vampire in the elevator wasn't my imagination," I murmur.
"No, it was the director who decided to smell you ahead of time," Dante replies.
