Noel lowered Revenant Fang just enough to glance at her, his green eyes catching the faint glow of the ice shards still scattered around them. His blond hair was damp with sweat, sticking slightly to his forehead, but his expression stayed steady.
"I had everything under control," he said, voice calm rather than defensive.
Selene didn't move, her cyan eyes fixed on the treeline. Her short blue hair shifted slightly with the wind, the faint shimmer of her magic still clinging to the air.
"No," she replied flatly. "It didn't look like it."
Noel's lips curved into the smallest smirk. "You're talking a lot more than usual. Something wrong?"
She blinked once, her face unreadable. "Nothing."
For a moment, he just studied her—the rigid way she held her wand, the faint tremor in her shoulders that no one else would notice. To the drones buzzing above, recording their every move, she looked perfectly composed. But Noel had learned to read the details others missed.
