For a moment, Noel just looked at her. The faint glow of the ruined sanctuary cast pale light across Selene's flushed face, the cyan of her eyes refusing to look away even as her grip on his sleeve trembled.
He exhaled slowly, grounding himself, then leaned in just enough for his voice to reach her clearly.
"Since when?"
Selene blinked, taken aback. "What?"
"That feeling." His tone wasn't sharp, but steady, searching. "How long have you been carrying it?"
Her lips parted, then closed again, the frost at her feet melting into damp soil. She lowered her gaze, strands of blue hair falling over her eyes.
"…I don't know," she admitted softly. "Maybe it started when you—" She hesitated, then forced it out. "When you took me from Iskandar Peaks. Back then… everything shifted. The way I saw you. The way I saw myself."
