Chapter 103: The Inter-Pack Social

Chapter 103 — The Inter-Pack Social

"I’m going to spend three hours with a friend," Roxanne said.

Isla adjusted a pin in her hair and caught her eye in the mirror. "And possibly meet the love of your life."

"I’m going to throw you out of this room."

"Not before I finish your eyeliner."

Tessa sat cross-legged on her bed with a book she clearly wasn’t reading. "She’s accompanying a friend, Isla. Not auditioning for a fairy tale."

"Everything is a fairy tale if you squint."

"Squinting is how you ended up with that fringe."

Isla gasped and touched her hair, and Roxanne laughed, steadying herself against the dresser while a brush hovered near her eyelid. It was easy in the way few things had been lately. Nobody was ranking anything or keeping score.

She had chosen a dark green top with soft sleeves and her good boots, the ones that survived dancing. When she turned in front of the mirror, she liked what she saw. Nothing about it was designed to make a particular person look twice. It was simply her, on a good day.

Her phone buzzed on the bed. Tessa passed it over.

Outside the hall at seven. Don’t be late, I’m nervous enough already. —Elias

A second message arrived before she could answer. So you’ve got an invitation and now you’re forgetting your friends? Terrible. I’m wounded. —Liam

Roxanne typed back: You’ll survive. Then she grabbed her jacket before Isla could add anything about the love of her life.

Elias was waiting beneath the lanterns outside the hall, hands in his pockets, looking as though he had rehearsed something and forgotten it.

"You look nice," he said. "Really. Not in a strange way."

"Thank you for clarifying."

"I’m trying to be clear."

"You’re doing well."

Inside, the hall was almost unrecognisable. Someone had strung lights across the rafters, and music pounded from a stage in the far corner, loud enough that conversations had to be shouted. Long tables of food lined the walls, with students from a dozen territories piling plates high and trading pack gossip without caring whose banner hung over whom. Nobody bowed. Nobody checked who stood beside her.

Elias introduced her to a stream of visiting students, a tall girl from the eastern ridge, a pair of twins who finished each other’s sentences, a boy who wanted to arm-wrestle everyone. Each time he said her name, they simply said hello. A few asked about the Moonstones, as promised, but most were more interested in whether she’d tried the honey pastries.

"This is nice," Roxanne admitted, leaning toward him over the music. "Nobody’s watching me."

"Give it time."

"Don’t ruin it."

He laughed, and for the first time that week his shoulders loosened completely. They found a quiet spot near the food and swapped stories about how they had first met.

"I thought you were insufferable," Elias said.

"I was the one who corrected your stance."

"Publicly."

"You were standing wrong."

"I know! That’s why it was insufferable." He shook his head, grinning. "And then you were right, which made it worse."

"I thought you were arrogant."

"I was."

"Slightly."

"Moderately," he allowed, and she laughed so hard she had to put her plate down.

Elias went to fetch drinks. Roxanne stayed near the edge of the dance floor, tapping her foot to the beat, until she noticed two familiar faces across the room.

Mira waved. Callum, beside her, gave a short nod that might have been an apology. They were talking to a young man Roxanne hadn’t met, with dark hair and a stiff, tired set to his jaw.

Then Elias came back through the crowd with two cups, and the stranger’s face changed.

"Elias," he said. The word was flat as a blade.

"Damon." Elias stopped where he stood. The cups tilted slightly in his hands.

"I wondered if you’d show. Found someone else to disappoint?"

Roxanne felt a hush move through the nearest cluster of students. Mira looked stricken.

"This isn’t the place for our old argument," Elias said evenly.

"It never is." Damon’s smile was thin. "You always say that when other people might hear the truth."

Roxanne stayed where she was. Every instinct told her to step in front of Elias, but she recognised that instinct for what it was. It would have made him a problem to be solved, rather than a person capable of handling his own life. Still, she wasn’t going to let this become entertainment. She moved a half step closer to him, folded her arms, and watched Damon steadily until several nearby students decided they had somewhere else to be.

Damon turned to her. "You should ask him why he left his team."

"If Elias wants to explain his past," Roxanne said, "he can do it himself."

Damon blinked. He had clearly expected her to ask, or to flinch, or at least to choose a side. "You’re not curious?"

"I’m very curious. I’m also not going to demand answers at a party from someone who isn’t offering them."

"That’s convenient."

"It’s polite."

For a moment nobody moved. Then Elias set both cups on a nearby table and said, quietly, "Damon. Please leave us alone."

Damon looked at him for a long moment. Something complicated passed behind his eyes, anger and something older underneath. "The past won’t stay buried forever, Elias," he said. Then he turned and disappeared into the crowd, and Callum followed after a hesitant glance back.

The music rolled on as though nothing had happened.

Roxanne picked up her cup. "Do you want to go home?"

Elias exhaled. "I should say yes." He rubbed his face with one hand. "But I don’t want an old disagreement deciding another evening of my life. I’d rather stay."

"Then we stay."

"I don’t need you to defend me," he said.

"Good. I wasn’t planning to."

He laughed, startled into it. Then she added, more quietly, "I just need you not to lie to me."

His expression sobered at once. "That’s fair."

"I’m not choosing sides blindly. Not yours, not anyone’s."

"I wouldn’t want you to."

She nodded once, and that was the end of it.

The band shifted into something slower, a warm, looping melody, and Elias held out a hand with exaggerated formality.

"Would you like to dance? As friends."

"As friends," Roxanne agreed, and took it.

They kept it light, mostly laughing over who was leading, stepping on each other’s feet and apologising too much. It was easy and uncomplicated, and she realised she hadn’t been this relaxed in weeks.

Across the room, a familiar head of dark hair turned. Liam had spotted them. He clutched his chest with theatrical agony, and Roxanne rolled her eyes at him over Elias’s shoulder, biting back a grin.

Lucien stood near him, deep in conversation with a visiting student. His gaze flicked toward her once, then returned to his companion without comment.

Roshan caught her eye from beside the food tables and lifted his cup a few inches, a small, sincere smile on his face. Enjoy it, it seemed to say.

Kai watched longest. He stood at the edge of the crowd with his arms loosely crossed, expression unreadable. Then he turned back to the person beside him and resumed talking, without a single step in her direction.

Roxanne let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. They were all here, and they were all part of her world. But for tonight, she was allowed to have something that wasn’t about them.

Afterwards, the hall had grown too warm, and Elias suggested air. They slipped out onto the stone terrace, where the night was cool and the music had faded to a muffled thump behind the doors.

"Thank you," Elias said, leaning against the railing. "For not treating me like a rumour."

"One uncomfortable encounter doesn’t define you." She paused. "But trust still has to be earned. That goes both ways."

"I know." He nodded slowly. "I’m not asking you to promise anything."

"Good."

They stood a while longer in comfortable quiet. Then Roxanne went back inside first, and Elias lingered a few minutes before following, so that nobody watching could mistake the evening for something it wasn’t.

When the night wound down, she collected her jacket and said her goodbyes to Isla and Tessa. Near the entrance, she noticed Damon speaking quietly with Callum, their heads close together. Damon looked up, saw her watching, and stopped mid-sentence.

Roxanne held his gaze for a moment, then looked away. She had no intention of chasing explanations through the dark. She had already had a good night, and she meant to keep it.

She was almost at the gate when quick footsteps came up behind her.

"Roxanne." Elias was slightly out of breath. "Wait. There’s something I should tell you before you hear it from someone else."

Roxanne turned toward him.