"Oops! My bad."
The words tumbled out of Nero's mouth in a rush, an immediate apology following his girlfriend's sudden, sharp shift in demeanor. He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, his expression a mix of genuine remorse and sheepish embarrassment. The ice in the room was still spreading, and he could feel the temperature continuing to drop around them.
Khione's ice-blue eyes studied him for a long, uncomfortable moment. The frost on the walls crackled softly. Then, slowly, deliberately, she spoke.
"How do you know?" Her voice was calm, controlled, but there was an edge to it that hadn't been there before. She paused, her gaze never leaving his face. "No, let me guess. Either you heard it from someone—Lux, perhaps, or maybe you stumbled across some old record—or it's related to your eyes." She tilted her head, the earlier cuteness replaced by sharp, analytical focus. "I'm guessing it's the latter."
