The dinner ended on a quiet note, with neither Luke nor Ilyrana saying much more after their initial conversation. They made their way back to the guest room in relative silence, the weight of the evening's revelations still hanging in the air. Once inside, Luke could feel the familiar pull of guilt rising again. The apology he had been rehearsing before was now nagging at him once more.
He glanced toward the spot where he had set the small box—the gift he had bought at the market earlier. But when his eyes landed there, the box was gone. Luke frowned, his heart sinking slightly as he scanned the room, trying to figure out where it had gone.
His search became a little more frantic as he moved around, lifting a few items here and there, trying to find where the box could have possibly gone. He didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but he couldn't help feeling a pang of anxiety at the idea that it was lost.
