Mira didn't flinch under Naga's stare. If anything, her posture straightened fractionally, the silver scales along her spine catching the glow like polished steel.
"The one who has already claimed protection responsibility," she said without hesitation. "Prince Zale."
The name dropped into the chamber like a stone into deep water.
Naga's head snapped toward the pool where Zale had retreated to the far edge, half-submerged, tail coiled tightly beneath him in a posture that screamed deliberate non-interference. The mer-prince had gone unnaturally still, aqua eyes wide with something between shock and wary hope.
Zale opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked at Alex instead of Naga.
Alex felt the weight of every gaze in the room—Mira's steady certainty, Kai's quiet sympathy from the corner where he'd frozen mid-weave, Reef the Younger's guarded alertness at the entrance, and most of all Naga's burning focus.
