Athena didn't bother to hide the small, satisfied smile curling onto her lips when her grand-aunt's head snapped toward her—so fast the movement was almost sharp enough to cut air.
For weeks, the woman had maintained that icy, veteran calm, the same detached arrogance she had worn for decades. But now? That cold façade cracked right down the middle, her nostrils flaring, her mask slipping just enough for the world to see panic bleeding through.
Athena hummed quietly in her mind. Finally. A reaction worth filing away.
Before she could savor it further, Ewan leaned in, his breath brushing the shell of her ear, voice dropping to that warm, velvet tone that always seemed to bypass her brain and arrow straight through her chest.
"Congratulations, sweetheart," he murmured, lips grazing the edge of her ear. "Does this feel the same as when you beat me at court months ago?"
