"You didn't think I would? You just realized it now?"
No...
Selene admitted, and that single word carried more weight than a dozen lectures.
I never thought you'd look that closely.
"She wasn't hiding the narrative," I said.
"You just weren't looking for it enough."
That's impossible.
Her voice sharpened, the kind of cold that burns.
Valeria doesn't slip. Not with me.
I almost laughed. "She already did, you fool."
Silence hummed between us — thick, electric, unfamiliar.
For once, Selene wasn't the one dissecting me.
She was recalculating, trying to mask it behind composure.
That alone felt like victory.
Kairi.
Her mental voice was quieter now, deliberate.
Whatever you think you've found… stay out of it. Valeria isn't your concern.
"Then why are you afraid?"
I'm not afraid.
"Then why are you here?"
A pause — long enough to count as hesitation, short enough to deny it.
Meet me. Tonight. Observatory Room.
