Rex blinked, sucking in air, watching Mira Lilith stagger a step back, one hand clutching the other as if burned.
Her eyes, those unsettling violet rings, narrowed sharply at the crown resting on his head.
Silence rippled through the room.
"…?!" The sound caught in her throat before she bit it back.
"Mira Lilith?" Shin Lan's voice carried, heavy and suspicious. His boots thudded against the polished floor as he advanced.
He'd kept his distance at her command, but now the invisible line she drew erased in an instant.
Rex followed the movement. The group that had stood behind him before, watching, waiting, were now circling in front of him, forming a wall between Mira and him.
Shin Lan's lance glimmered faintly as he angled it low but ready. Cross hovered close to him, wringing his hands nervously, golden eyes darting between Mira and the crown. Inis stood stiff, jaw set, grey eyes burning with grief and suspicion all at once.
And Mira Lilith… her sweet smile was gone. In its place lingered something raw, half-anger, half-curiosity, all aimed at the crown she had dared to touch.
"…What is it?" Inis's voice cut the silence first, sharp but laced with unease. Her grey eyes darted toward Mira Lilith, searching her expression. "Did you find something?"
The black haired woman didn't answer immediately. She stood a few paces away, her black dress pooling like shadow around her, violet eyes fixed on Rex's head.
The faintest tremor ran through the hand she'd used to touch the crown, though she tried to hide it with that usual serene smile.
Cross, fidgeting, took a hesitant step closer. Then another.
His green hair caught the sunlight filtering through the window as he tilted his face up, golden eyes narrowing with a mix of fear and fascination. "Then… I should see for myself."
The boy reached forward.
But before his fingers could brush the metal, Rex's hand shot up, clamping tight around the boy's wrist.
The chains binding him were still there, cool against his ribs, but looser now, as if Mira's concentration had faltered. He'd been waiting for a gap like this.
For a moment, nothing moved.
The boy froze, wide-eyed, as the pressure of Rex's grip sank in. Green met red, bright, startled innocence against the sharp, unnatural gleam of Aurex's eyes.
Inis's breath caught audibly, her lips parting in a frown that deepened with every heartbeat.
Shin Lan's gaze hardened further, the edge of his lance tilting a fraction, like a reflex to strike.
Even Mira's smile twitched, a flicker of amusement breaking through her composure.
Cross paled, throat bobbing as he tried to swallow.
"…I wouldn't recommend touching it, Cross," Mira Lilith finally purred, her voice a silky dismissal that carried its own weight of command.
She lifted her hand, the very hand that had dared the crown, and flicked her fingers as though brushing away invisible dust.
Rex's grip loosened, then released, letting the boy stumble back. All three stepped away at once, distance snapping back between them as though a wall had risen.
"Wha... What is it, then?" Cross asked at last, his tone softer, hesitant. His golden eyes lingered on the crown, refusing to blink, as though trying to read it without laying a hand on it.
The question hung there, heavy as the, clack, clack, clack, that followed.
Mira's heels echoed as she walked past them.
She moved to Rex, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder before she draped herself lazily across his back.
Her arms slid around him in a loose embrace, nails tracing a slow, teasing path across his chest and shoulder, winding around him like a mischievous snake. Her nails traced lazy little circles, deliberate in every stroke.
His breath hitched, cold sweat prickling down his skin even as heat flared up his face in burning waves. Every nerve in his body screamed confusion, half-panicked and half-overwhelmed, until his muscles locked tight.
He sat frozen in place, betrayed entirely by his body's reaction.
His eyes shot wide as a sudden warmth pressed against the back of his neck, soft, immense, and unmistakable.
Cold sweat poured down his temples, clashing violently with the hot, fiery blush spreading across his cheeks. His breath came out like a broken kettle whistle, and his muscles locked so tight he might as well have turned to stone. Every single alarm in his body went off at once, his thoughts scattering into incoherent static.
He didn't dare move an inch. Even blinking felt dangerous.
Well, shit. This body's hella sensitive.
That was all Rex could think as every nerve in him screamed at once, his face a warzone of cold sweat and burning blush. He barely noticed how stiff and awkwardly he was holding himself until his gaze flicked sideways, catching the others' reactions.
Shin Lan's face was carved into a deadpan mask, the kind that said, I've seen worse, but I'm judging you anyway.
Inis, on the other hand, looked like a bristling cat, her shoulders tensed and jaw clenched, eyes flickering between him and Mira Lilith.
Cross couldn't even meet their eyes, he turned away with his lips moving as he whispered something about mana, his attention clearly more troubled by the crown than by the spectacle happening inches away.
And through it all, Mira Lilith's voice cut across the heavy air, smooth and playful yet edged with something sharp.
"...It's a trap." she purred, her smile audible in the lilt of her tone.
Rex's throat bobbed, but no sound came. He couldn't nod, couldn't shake his head, hell, he could barely breathe. After all, before the crown had even brushed against his brow, he had half-convinced himself this was just another dream.
But now, with her weight draped across his back, her nails skating his chest, the crown hovering over his head, and his body betraying him in every possible way… he wasn't sure if he'd woken up at all.
Maybe this really was still a dream.
A humiliating, suffocating, terrifying dream.