"That girl. Jesse."
The air around them shifted.
Her voice was quiet. Controlled. But something in it struck down with the weight of an unsheathed blade.
"How do you know her?"
Lucavion didn't answer right away.
He didn't deflect. Didn't tease. He simply met her stare, the sound around them dulling to background haze. And for once, his expression didn't give her anything.
Not a joke.
Not a smile.
Just… silence.
Waiting.
And Valeria… was already brimming.
Because she hadn't forgotten the tension in Jesse's stance. The controlled movements. The eyes like a mirror polished by grief and something older than her age should allow. Valeria hadn't forgotten the way she'd looked at Lucavion—not with hate, not exactly—but with something more intimate.
Lucavion stayed silent for a breath too long.
Not the kind of pause that masked thought, but the kind that betrayed it. Intentional. Measured.
Calculated.
As always.
