I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard Mr. Vance move closer to my bed. After what he'd done to me in that assembly, the last thing I wanted was to face him. The memory of his cold words—"Miss Thorne is nothing to me"—still cut like glass beneath my skin. So I did what any reasonable adult would do: I pretended to be asleep.
"She's resting now," Mr. Vance said, his voice lower and less harsh than before. "Let her sleep."
I focused on keeping my breathing deep and even, fighting the urge to peek through my lashes. The mattress shifted as Rhys stood up from where he'd been sitting beside me.
"When is the seer arriving?" Rhys asked quietly.
"Tomorrow morning," Mr. Vance replied. "I've arranged for the reading to take place in my office at nine."
"Both of us should be there with her," Silas said firmly.