The silence between us stretched like a taut wire.
I didn't back away. Didn't flinch.
Just met Aeron's shattered gaze with my steady one, watching as the raindrops from his memory seemed to still cling to his lashes.
After hearing his story, I analyzed everything, but it had holes and inconsistencies, the biggest being whatever "incident" had made him realize the sword's "true nature."
But that could wait.
"Is that what you truly believe?" My voice cut through the silence like a blade through fog.
Aeron's stare intensified - burning gold meeting steel. The unspoken answer was obvious in his eyes: Why are you asking the obvious?
I ignored it and continued.
"Is that why you're distancing yourself from everyone? From Emilia? From Livia?"
His fingers twitched. A muscle jumped in his jaw.
"Is that why you look like death warmed over?" I gestured in his current situation once again. "Why are you isolating yourself from the world?"
