The room grew very still for a moment as Alexis entered. Dolphus kept his calm, his mask somehow improving while his gaze was fixed so she stayed permanently in its peripheral vision. To look without looking was something his father had practiced and prided himself on, but Dolphus hadn’t seen much purpose in it before.
He had to know. He had to know just how she perceived him. He had opened his mouth to reply and affirm there was no problem whatsoever, when-
Dolphus’ gaze broke as he counted the number of people he had seen at the shore, all of them present now in the one room and most seated at the one table.
Alexis, the most important,
Nico Markl, the dangerous one,
Mako, with so many bandages,
Rook Andreas, who raised a lot of questions he didn’t want the answers for,
And himself, Dolphus Greylark, Gorov in hiding. Every single one accounted for. And Tharwin had said he was not joining them himself on this voyage - who, then, could it be?