EIRLYS' POV
The days that followed passed in a gentle blur of ink and quiet lessons. Ashteryn was still away, though no one seemed certain when he would return.
In his absence, Evander took it upon himself to continue teaching me. His patience was both a balm and a source of frustration, softly correcting the shape of my letters or the way my lips moved as I sounded out the words.
We moved on to numbers, too. Evander said that counting was as important as reading and writing, that it was its own kind of language.
It felt like discovering a new kind of magic. Each number a small secret, a hidden pattern I was only just beginning to understand. Sometimes, when I forgot or stumbled, my own clumsiness burned in my cheeks.
But Evander would lean closer then, a faint smile in his bright eye
