Vibe: From the Dining Table — Harry Styles

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The Duke stood in the shade of the trees beside the gardener. Old Auden chewed thoughtfully at the edge of his thumbnail — an old habit he had probably long stopped noticing in himself.

"What do you make of her, Auden?"

"She isn't like the ones you usually bring here, my lord," he said finally.

"Good," the Duke replied evenly.

"She doesn't fear work. But she fears people."

The Duke held his gaze.

"Not all of them."

The gardener made that same low sound — the one that meant: 'I know far more than I let on.'

"And the girl?" he asked.

"Mira."

"She's too watchful for her age."

"That is exactly why I put her there," the Duke answered, his tone even. "She will tell the truth. Even if she does not want to."

Auden fell silent. Then, slowly, he asked:

"And if she decides to protect her instead?"

The Duke did not answer at once. His gaze stayed on the garden, on the two figures moving between the shrubs.

"Then I will learn what I need to know about both of them."

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The study door opened almost without a sound.

Mira entered and stopped at the threshold. She bowed briefly — crisp, with no wasted ceremony.

The Duke stood half-turned from her, his eyes still on the window.

"Well?"

Mira did not hurry. She weighed each word carefully before she gave it.

"She lies. But not like a thief. Like a woman with no choice left — one who learned long ago to say only what people want to hear."

The Duke gave the faintest nod.

"Go on."

"She knows more than she should. But she is afraid."

"Of whom?" he asked quietly.

Mira held his gaze a moment. Then, just as quickly, she lowered her eyes.

"She is not afraid of this place, or the people in it. But she lives braced for danger. When the wind changed and something cracked in the forest, she didn't even blink. But when I came up behind her — she went still. Barely, but she froze."

The Duke said nothing.

"She's afraid of something that isn't here yet," Mira added quietly. "But that could come."

For the first time, the Duke looked away from the window and turned to face her.

"Enough."

Mira nodded and left just as quietly as she had come.

Alone now, the Duke looked down again. The garden was already sinking fast into the evening shadows. Elara had gone inside long ago — only the basket remained beside the last shrub, exactly where she had sat all day.

/"She is afraid of what might come."/

He did not take his eyes off the abandoned basket.

/"Which means she knows someone is looking for her."/