Elias didn't move.
He wasn't sure he even breathed. Sera's eyes had only just opened—barely enough to show a glint of gold beneath the lashes—but the weight of that look pressed through him like a hand against his sternum.
Not a threat.
An inevitability.
Across his mind, his creature stretched with a slow, vicious satisfaction, the kind it reserved only for her. She sees you now. Really sees you. Try not to collapse under your own fragile ego.
Elias forced his pulse down. "I didn't start anything," he murmured.
Sera's lashes lowered. "You did. When you walked out of the cage."
"That wasn't—"
"It was exactly that." Her voice stayed calm. Not accusing. Not angry. Just factual, like reading a chart with his name at the top. "You put yourself on the board."
He tried to look away, but the creature surged forward, gripping his awareness hard. Do not look away from her. You don't turn your back on the ocean.
He swallowed and met Sera's gaze again.
